


Of Their Own Accord

by SpaceShark



Series: Semper Fi [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Punisher (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, BAMF Frank Castle, BAMF Maria Hill, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Depression, Established Relationship, Eventual Smut, F/M, Flashbacks, Frank gets hit hard by Scarlet Witch's visions, Gen, Ghost from MW2 appears later, Guilt, Heart-to-Heart, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:00:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4124887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceShark/pseuds/SpaceShark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Not Ready To Die." </p><p>Frank Castle and Maria Hill were no strangers to pain and guilt. That's what drew them together. So they'll be moving mountains when an out of control AI and a pair of superpowered twins get tossed at them and the Avengers. Follows AoU with Punisher/Maria moments. Mentions of Bruce/Natasha as well. </p><p>Rated M for sex and violence, though neither is an emphasis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Opening Salvo

**Author's Note:**

> Since I can't upload everything I've got in one go from Fanfiction.net, I'll be uploading (by which I mean copy and pasting) one chapter at at time. In the meantime, leave your kudos and comment away, it'll make my day.

_Prolugue – Novi Grad, Sokovia_

Frank Castle awoke from his unconsciousness and looked at his surroundings.

His armor was wreckage of the Pave Low helicopter he had been flying was a good fifty feet from him, along with what was left of most of the crew. He spotted one of the survivors and crawled towards him.

Then a hail of fire from the sky (how ironic, since Novi Grad was already several thousand feet in the air) and the survivor was no more.

"Frank!" The panicked voice of Maria Hill came in via his earpiece, which somehow escaped from the crash unscathed. "Ultron launched an ambush. Get the hell out of the killzone. Move!"

Frank spotted the Quinjet Ultron was manually piloting and rushed to the nearest cover building, which happened to be some sort of Sokovian café. "Barton's about ten meters to your right," said Maria. "Get him out of there!"

"Roger, will do," replied Frank. "Doesn't look good from here though."

Before he could do anything, a blur of blue spun past him and straight for Clint Barton.

_Six days earlier, grounds surrounding Baron von Strucker's Castle, Sokovia_

"What a lovely day."

Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher, was racing towards the jeep straight in front of him, careful not to take any of the various projectile weapons in his face. He stopped only to kick a HYDRA goon coming at him from one of those anti-gravity devices, and put two bullets in him for good measure. Once that was taken care of, he dispatched the driver and his two friends in quick succession.

"Barton's taking the rear. Castle, ride shotgun." Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, was getting in the driver's seat and rushing away at nearly ninety miles an hour. They had to in order to avoid the bad guys in all directions. They came from the back, front, and the air. Frank liked Natasha: like him, she was trained for special operations and didn't give away any shots.

"Taking the rear? Very funny, Tasha." Frank didn't know where Clint Barton developed his skills, or why he preferred archery to conventional firearms. What he did know, however, was that he was the joker of the pack, was just as deadly as the rest of the team, and that he was a good friend at heart. Barton shot an arrow at one of the flying men trying to get a clear shot at them, sending him crashing into a tree.

"Two more jeeps, one on each side," shouted Frank. "Barton, you get one, I'll get the other." Frank aimed the M203 grenade launcher attached to his M4 and fired at the enemy jeep to the right, disintegrating it in a fireball.

"I got him." Barton, code name Hawkeye, pulled out an explosive trick arrow and plunged it into the jeep coming at them from the left. A few seconds on a timer, and suddenly the jeep turned over on its side.

Several hundred feet later, a ravine approached, and the three of them would have to get out. Fortunately, Thor, Tony Stark in the Mark 44, the Hulk, and Steve Rogers on a motorbike all approached said ravine at the same time, and the dozen or so combatants waiting to take on the Avengers were quickly overwhelmed by a hail of repulsors, arrows, bullets, and lightning.

Enemy reinforcements were quickly closing in, however. A group of T-90 main battle tanks, armed with Chitauri powered technology, were rolling down from the north, along with more jeeps carrying troops. Thor swung Mjolnir at one of the tanks, causing it to tear itself apart in a matter of seconds.

"Loki's scepter must be here," said Thor as he retrieved Mjolnir to slam into a trio of HYDRA soldiers attempting to get a shot at him. "Strucker couldn't mount a defense without it. At long last."

"No shit, Sherlock," said Frank as he went prone and reloaded his grenade launcher. He'd picked out body armor that camouflaged him in the Sokovian forest landscape and snow. "At your 12 o'clock, Romanoff. I'm reloading."

"On it." The Black Widow tossed one of her grenades into the back of the jeep, which exploded and sent soldiers flying, with and without a heartbeat. Those that survived received incoming punches, kicks, and Widow Bites. " 'At long last' is lasting a little long boys."

Barely dodging an incoming ray from another tank, Barton took meager cover from some half-dead trees. "I think we lost the element of surprise," he said as he used another explosive arrow to destroy the attacking tank.

That, of course was the point, according to the self-proclaimed Punisher. Had this been one of his old SEAL operations, the procedure would have been anonymity above all: no mess, no footprints. In an all-out battle, however, disruption was everything. Baron von Strucker and his lackeys were, in a dramatic way, about to experience the laws of cause and effect.

* * *

"Who gave the order to attack?!" Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was not a happy man in normal circumstances. And in these, even less so.

One of Strucker's assistants, a timid young man plucked from graduate school at the University of Berlin, looked uneasily at a phone that showed real-time displays of the battle. "Herr Strucker, it's the Avengers."

The kid's awareness of the obvious was not appreciated by Strucker, who began rallying what was left of his army. First Serbia, then Greece, and now this mess. "Deploy the rest of the tanks! Can we hold them?"

"T-they're the Avengers…"

Strucker sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to not-so-distraught members of his staff. "We will not yield. The Americans send their  _circus freaks_  to test us. We will send them back in body bags. No surrender!"

Hopefully, the force field would hold them off long enough to evacuate everything Strucker needed. And if that failed… well, there were the twins.

* * *

Another tank came onto view. This time, it was the Hulk's turn to take it out. The raging green alter ego of Bruce Banner picked up the fifty ton tank with relative ease and tossed it to be shredded by scorch of lightning, courtesy of Thor.

"How many of these fucking things do they have-"

"Language, Castle!"

"We're fighting a war, and your first concern is language?"  _Of all the things Captain America would tell me_ , thought Frank.

"It slipped out."

"Who cares?" chipped in Hawkeye. "We've got more pressing concerns. Alright, I've got another bunker in my sights." He prepared to fire another arrow.

"You do that Barton, I'm going to see if I can get one of these tanks for ourselves." Frank moved towards what appeared to be a stalled tank, crouching to minimize enemy contact, and spotted two men attempting to get something fixed. After looking for any immediate threats and finding none, Frank made himself known to the men.

"Hands where I can see them," he ordered. The two looked confused at first, then the one on the left slowly raised his hands. The other followed suit. Frank guessed that the one on the left spoke English and was in no mood to fight.

"We're taking a ride in the tank. Tell your friend to-"

Before he could finish, a flash of blue spun past them, knocking all three of them off their feet. The two crew members were out. Frank got to his feet and saw a young blonde man who couldn't have been older than twenty five.

"You didn't see that coming?" Even with an Eastern European accent, there was no mistaking the arrogance and smug confidence in his voice.

Frank reached for the Glock 18 in his holster, as the M4 had been knocked out of his hands. However, by the time he let off any shots, the speedster zoomed off to catch one of Barton's arrows.  _Enhanced_ , he thought. He remembered Maria Hill telling him about that in the middle of their shower sex.

_What a time to be alive._

"Heads up everyone, we've got superpowered company," he said on the team's radio comms as he shot at more infantry coming from the west.

"Tell me about it," said Barton, who'd been delayed in his offensive maneuvers by the same blonde man. "Son of a bitch."

"Language, Barton," said Rogers, throwing his motorbike at another HYDRA jeep. Safe to say the vehicle was no longer drivable. "Everyone stick to the plan. Stark's going to find a way to neutralize that force field. Natasha, keep Banner in check and focused on the enemies. Barton, Castle, find the secret passage."

The "secret passage" Steve was referring to was a massive garage door at the base of the mountain. Maria's intel reported that there were three main layers to Strucker's castle: the surface floor where the castle was situated on, a primary underground layer (where experiments via Loki's scepter took place), and a secondary underground layer where Chitauri powered tech was built.

"Got it," said Barton. "Rendezvous and- shit, I'm hit!" Barton had taken a shot to the thigh, leaving a nasty hole. While Natasha and Thor turned their attentions to protecting him and getting him to safety, Frank just sighed.  _Looks like I'll be doing all of the heavy lifting,_ he thought as he made his way towards the hangar bay and garage opening.

Frank's SEAL training and vigilante days both kicked it as a small army of SMGs and assault rifles began firing at it. HE slid for cover while throwing a flashbang grenade, defending himself while disorienting the enemy. While they attempted to recover Frank put in another grenade round and launched it a group of soldiers that was hiding behind a truck. The truck was obliterated, along with its occupants. Other survivors were mopped up by a fresh clip of 5.56 rounds from the M4.

"Hangar door clear," whispered Frank as he crouched and crawled towards the rows of empty tanks. "Mopping up, over."

"Roger that, Frank," said Steve as he kicked down a door leading to the castle, near where Von Strucker was. "Keep up the pressure on that side. I'll handle Strucker."

"Whatever you say." If he was in charge of battle plans, Frank would have a nice long talk with Strucker. However, the world didn't always go in his favor, and he was used to reshuffling the cards life dealt him. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and slammed against one of the tanks.

Frank got a good look at his attacker. It was one of the goons that was using the flying technology. He must have flown in and taken Frank by surprise. As the anti-gravity tech powered off as the man struggled to get a hold on Frank, the vigilante got an idea. Frank's boots were designed to climb mountains, and had spikes on their undersides.

Frank slammed as hard as he could with his left foot against the HYDRA goon. The man screamed and cursed in German as he was taken aback by the swiftness of the kick. This gave Frank all the time he needed to get his Glock ready. He doubled tapped the man and continued on to the next wave of attackers, who were ill prepared for a head-on assault; most of the veterans were taken down already.

Captain Rogers radioed in again. "Castle, I've got Strucker. What's the situation like down there?"

"Plenty of fun. At least another fifty hired guns, but not much more than tanks and weapons." Frank began receiving static in his earpiece, and waited for Rogers to respond. In the meantime, he also laid down covering fire at the enemies on the other side of the hangar bay.

Finally Rogers came back on the radio. "Had a little problem here. We got a second enhanced. She shoots what appears to be red hexes. Tony, I think she's headed your way."

"Uh huh. This room is a freaking gold mine." He must have been in Strucker's science level. Stark would have quite a field day here. "I'm going after the scepter."

Bullets began pinging around the area Frank was using for cover.  _Screw this, we're using grenades again._ Especially with the sheer number of enemies left. He loaded the M203 again and fired it. I didn't leave much of a dent in the tank he aimed it, but the dozen or so men around it were thrown in various directions.

Then the booming voice of Captain America came on a microphone: "Attention all HYDRA members: we have your leader, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, in custody. Surrender now and you will not be harmed. This will be your only warning."

A brief lull in the gunfire ensued. Then, at first a few, then the rest of the remaining soldiers dropped their weapons and came out with arms raised. Soon Rogers and Castle had about thirty disarmed combatants taken prisoner. They were soon joined by an unarmored Tony Stark, holding Loki's scepter in hand. "Sorry, had a delay. The girl tried to jinx me, and I have no idea where she went. Got the prize though. What's the score Cap?"

"That's the last of them," remarked Rogers, pointing to the prisoners. "Now we just need to separate the ones of value, and hand them over to NATO and Interpol and let them deal with the cleanup."

Frank, however, had different ideas.


	2. Mopping Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving right along.

"You really think this will work?" asked Frank to Natasha as they approached the Hulk, still tearing the mountainside apart tree by tree.

"I talked it over with Banner before the op. Trust me, it should calm down the other guy."

"It better," remarked Frank. He himself was carrying a WA2000 sniper rifle. By itself, the WA2000 was one of the rarest rifles in the world, with less than 200 being made. Stark had the good fortune of having one around. However, this one had been redesigned to carry armor piercing tranquilizer rounds strong enough to knock out a tiger. The rifle was one of Stark's many experiments to take out the Hulk in case of emergency, though it had never been used.

"It will," reassured Natasha. "And stay out of sight when aiming it. You don't want to piss him off any more than he is."

"Whatever you say," said Frank as he moved to a less visible area as the Black Widow approached the Hulk.

"Hey big guy," she said to the towering rage monster in front of her, destroying some trees. He turned around with a loud grunt.  _What do you want?_

Frank watched as Natasha gave off a blank look, then said "Sun's getting real low." Then she did something Frank didn't expect: she bent down, as if the Hulk was an animal to be tamed, and held out her hand. Natasha had given him some sort of overview on how she planned to get Banner back, but not like this. She was putting herself in danger.

Frank steadied the WA2000, ready to fire if things went to shit.

But the Hulk seemed entranced by the red-headed woman. He walked over and placed his own hand on hers. Then she preceded to mover her hand around his tough green skin and tap it in several places. Frank thought this was the craziest idea ever. The beast was capable of ripping her apart if he was the slightest bit angry. How Natasha was taming him was a mystery.

Then the Hulk walked off. Only, he wasn't the Hulk anymore. He was a combination of the Hulk and Bruce Banner. He was morphing out of the state that had assisted them quite well in the battle and turned back into the timid scientist that was everyone's good friend.

As the transformation took place, Natasha smiled and walked on towards Frank's hiding place. "Let's go. He'll be able to find his way back to the Quinjet."

"Magic touch," remarked Frank. "You really have quite a way with him."

"I'd say the same thing about you and Maria Hill. It works both ways."

_Prison cell, Strucker's Castle_

Stark, Rogers, Romanoff, Castle, and Thor gathered around where the several dozen POWs had been gathered. The low level thugs and hired guns had been placed on one side, the ones with actual control within HYDRA (half a dozen) on another. Strucker had already been locked in a cell for NATO to retrieve him.

"Should we leave them here in the castle or take them to Novi Grad and let the Sokovian army deal with them?" asked Rogers, looking for opinions.

"Neither," said Castle. He pulled out the Glock and set it to single shot. He aimed it at the first of the prisoners in the head.

"Frank, what the hell are you doing?!" asked Steve angrily.

"What needs to be done," replied Frank as he shot the man in the head. This caused the others to start panicking and begging in German. Rogers looked shocked, but the others didn't budge too much.

"This is not who we are," said Rogers, attempting to add more authority to his voice. "We do not stoop down to their level-"

"Is that what you said to the Nazis, Mr. America?" snapped Frank. "Keeping them alive only gives them a chance to be released and set back, thanks to all the bleeding hearts in the EU courts. And half the Sokovian parliament is on HYDRA's payroll. Doesn't make sense to keep them alive any which way." He shot another prisoner without looking at him.

"This is not exactly an honorable death…" started Thor.

"Really?! Don't tell me your father didn't make any ugly choices as king of Asgard. Down here, we all have to make ugly choices." Another bullet, another man down.

The rest of the executions went on. None of the others bother talking it out anymore. They knew of Frank's 'take no prisoners' approach to captured enemies. Of his still violent nature. That was what made him valued to the team, after all.

Finally, once all of them were dead, Frank turned to Steve. "Where's Strucker?"

"Out of your reach."

"I'd say the same about your friend on that train, but I don't resort to low blows like that-"

Steve attempted to make a move on Frank, but Thor held him back. "Now is not the time to fight each other, brothers. We have what we came for," he stated, pointing to the scepter in Tony's hands. "Let us leave it at that."

* * *

The Avengers were uncomfortably silent until they reached the Quinjet, where the injured Barton and Banner were waiting. After a few hours of manual flying and making calls to Rhodey and Pepper, Stark set it on autopilot and propped himself down next to Frank. The ex-vigilante was cleaning his M4 of any dust or grime that may have gotten in it during the battle.

"Gotta clean it after every use," said Frank to Stark. "Keeps the shit from clogging it up. Your suits don't get rusty, do they, Stark?"

"Well, no. Not the Iron Legion, that's for certain." Stark had deployed several Iron Legion suits to the outskirts of Novi Grad to keep the citizens from getting too close to the fighting. They'd taken some dents from an angry mob, but other than that no real damage. "I gotta ask you Castle: why'd you do it?"

"Do what? There's a lot of shit I do day in and day out."

"The prisoner executions. Just seemed like a way to piss off Capisicle over there. No offense Cap."

Rogers nodded, albeit with an annoyed look.

"So that they can't get away," replied Frank. "So they can't profit from the misery they've caused. The same went for everyone I killed over the last five years. That's the purpose of people like me: to keep bastards like them from reoccurring."

"Whatever floats your boat." Stark went back to the cockpit while Steve walked towards Frank.

"Frank, I know we have our differences-"

"Don't. I don't mean to get your nerves worked up every time we have a spat. We're just soldiers from different times. I have my way of seeing things, and you have yours."

Steve seemed to relax a little. Like Frank, he was a man devoted to his job, so they could relate with that.

"I'm sorry I had to drag your Bucky friend into it. But I don't apologize for my actions. And that's final."

Steve looked away. Maybe Frank's reply wasn't entirely satisfactory, but it would do for the time being. Frank went to Natasha, who was monitoring both Barton, lying on his makeshift bed, and Banner, who was plugged in on his iPod listening to something Frank didn't know. "How's the archer?"

"Better," replied the Russian. "Isn't awake, but vitals are stabilizing. Dr. Cho's cradle should be able to patch him up faster than any hospital." She looked at Frank, who clearly needed a ride in the cradle as well. "And you too."

"Do him first. I can wait."

"Even without painkillers?"

"Like I told you: the costs outweigh the benefits."

Natasha smiled. "Fine. Maria might not like that answer, though." As she went off to check on Banner and his music, Frank walked up behind the cockpit seat. "Where are we now?"

"North Atlantic," replied Stark. "Less than thirty minutes till touchdown."

"Good." Frank turned back to Natasha and Bruce, who were having a talk about him and the other guy.  _Russian lullabies,_ thought Frank.  _How cute._

"How long until you trust me?" asked Natasha to Bruce.

"It's not you I don't trust…" replied Banner, implying the other guy was the cause of blame. Frank was surprised to see the Black Widow take her time with a timid man like Bruce Banner.

Natasha turned to the god in the plane. "Thor, report on the Hulk," she said to him, while turning to Frank and mouthing two words: watch this.

"The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims," said Thor with energy. Frank tried his hardest not to laugh, and saw Steve doing the same. Bruce, on the other hand, just put his hands in his face, not wanting to be reminded of the other guy. Natasha glared at Thor, either playing a defensive friend or genuinely alarmed by Thor's reaction.

"Not the screams of the dead, of course," said Thor, unaware of the pansy he'd be pulled into. "No, no, wounded screams, whimpering, a great deal of complaining and spraining deltoids and… gout."

Frank offered Thor a fistbump. "I don't think that was what Dr. Banner was looking for, but it was amusing."

_Avengers Tower, Manhattan, New York_

Stark was a good as his word. Half an hour later, the Quinjet was pulling in the hangar bay of the Stark Tower. The skies were clear and perfect for a landing. The Iron Legion drones followed close behind, being inspected and cleaned up one at a time before the Quinjet landed.

Maria Hill and Dr. Helen Cho were waiting for them as the Quinjet opened up. Natasha and Frank began rolling out Barton on his makeshift bed/stretcher while Thor and Steve began the process of unpacking and unloading.

"Get him to the cradle ASAP," Frank told Dr. Cho. He then turned his attentions to Maria. "Hello," he said to her with a quick kiss. "How's the wrist?"

Maria showed him the wrist with the scar. It was fading away. "Fine. It gets better each day. You don't have to ask every time you see me." She quickly turned to Stark and told him, "All set up boss."

He smiled. "The least I could do."

Stark walked over to them with a stupid grin on his face. "Actually, Maria, you're holding your immediate boss in your arms right now. You both report to me. Now, did you get the info on those enhanced I requested?"

"Of course." Maria picked up an iPad from a nearby table and began scrolling through pictures of two teenagers, one of whom looked just like the silver-haired man Frank and Clint had encountered. "Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Birth parents unknown, adopted by the Maximoffs. Their adoptive parents were killed at the age of ten, during the Sokovian Civil War."

Frank was well aware of the Sokovian Civil War. After the fall of the Eastern Bloc, Sokovia appeared to be one of the countries that would adapt best to transitioning from communism to capitalism. Then the ethnic cleansings in neighboring Serbia happened, and many war criminals began slipping across the border, trying to take power in Novi Grad. From 2000-2003, the war see-sawed between the extremists from Serbia and a more moderate faction backed by Britain and the United States. Frank might have even been deployed to the mountainous country if it wasn't for radical Islam and 9/11.

"Obadiah Stane was really interested in Sokovia during that time," said Stark. "He was neck deep in munitions contracts from the American-backed government for a while."

"Might explain the grudge match the Maximoffs have against America," said Maria. "Their adaptive parents were killed by an American-made bomb. When HYDRA began its latest coup after Insight, they began human experimentation with the scepter. As far as the records go, these two were the only ones to come out alive."

"So what are their abilities?" asked Steve, who'd just finished putting away his shield and Frank's ammo.

"He's got enhanced homeostasis and an increased metabolic rate, she's got a host of telepathic stuff. He's fast, she's weird."

"So it's likely we'll be seeing them again," said Rogers.

"Correct. According to the reports, they were among the first to volunteer," replied Maria. "Crazy, if you ask me."

"Yeah," said Steve in a sharply sarcastic tone. "Who'd be crazy enough to let a German scientist experiment on them in order to protect their country?"

If the mentioning of German World War II crimes was supposed to serve as a counterargument, it didn't work. "Cap, we're not at war anymore."

"You're right.  _They_ are." As Steve Rogers closed the elevator doors and went down to do whatever it was he was going to do, Frank pulled Maria aside. "Forgive him; I think I may have worked him up over the last few hours."

"How so?"

"I made a hard decision he couldn't." He explained to her how he disposed of the HYDRA underbosses.

"You two just can't get along, can you?"

"I might be on this team, but I'm going to do what I damn well want to, and he has to deal with it as much as everyone else."

Maria sighed to herself. Her relationship with Frank Castle was having a stabilizing effect on him, but old habits die hard. And with men like Castle, you had to draw a very fine line.

"I just wish you'd consulted with him before making a move," she said. "Good thing you didn't kill Strucker: NATO wrenched out of him a number of bases and facilities in Germany. They're beginning raids as we speak. Maybe Cap wasn't so mistaken after all."

"And you love to see me take a hit, don't you?" he said playfully.

"Only if you want it."

"That depends. By the way, any mention of what happened to those twins?"

"Nothing we know of," she said. "No mention of them by NATO. If they're at one of Strucker's other bases we'll know." She noticed Frank scratching a bullet wound in his arm. "What the hell is that?"

"Just a scratch." But was obviously more than that as Frank took off his body armor. It was an array of scars, exit wounds, and cuts.

"Your pain tolerance may be extremely high, but you need to have Dr. Cho take a look at that in the cradle," Maria said almost worriedly.

"I let Barton go first. Figured he'd need it more than I do."

"Frank…" Maria shook her head. "You know you're just as valuable to the team. Now go get cleaned up by Dr. Cho before I drag you there myself."

Frank let off a sheepish "fine" and walked off to where the medical bay was. As he did that, Stark walked up to Maria. "Six hours," he said. "That's how long he's been keeping those bullets in him. Do you know if Cap ever gave him a blood transfusion?"

Maria laughed. "I wonder if he even knows what physical pain is sometimes."

"Me too. By the way, I want you two together and dressed up for Thor's departing party." Stark meant it; Maria could tell in his voice.

"As if I haven't done it enough times already since you hired me-"

Tony cut her off. "You two are going to do it and you're going to like it." He walked off.


	3. Chapter 3

**"Punisher's a dangerous loose cannon — always walkin' the line, always in danger of going over... traits I can empathize with." -Wolverine**

* * *

_Avengers Tower, several days later_

The next few days at Stark/Avengers Tower were far less hectic than the past two weeks. Both Castle and Barton were restored to full health by Helen Cho's biowizardry. Frank was very impressed at how fast the damaged tissue had restored itself in a matter of minutes. Hyper-enhanced cell regeneration, as Dr. Cho had put it, had wiped out any trace of battle scars on his entire body.

Bruce and Tony set themselves to work on the Ultron Program, after Thor agreed they could have Loki's scepter to play with for the next few days before he returned to Asgard. They spent almost all their time in the research lab, sleepless nights included.  _They clearly have big plans for this AI_ , thought Frank.

Most of the rest of the team took time off: Natasha caught up on lost sleep, Steve took Thor and Cho exploring around New York, and Clint could be found on the phone every other hour. Who he was talking to was anyone's guess, though Frank thought back about Barton's secret relationship. He didn't bother asking any more questions than that.

As for Frank and Maria, they focused their efforts on finding the twins. Working on Strucker's info, GSG9 (Germany's equivalent to the SWAT) raided Strucker's warehouses in Hamburg, Munich, and Bruges, as well as an ancestral castle in Berlin. Pietro Maximoff was at none of them, and neither was his twin sister. Alerts had been put out for them, but so far nothing else had turned itself up.

"Maybe we're looking at it the wrong way," Frank said to Maria during pillow talk one night. "Maybe the twins never left Sokovia."

"That of all things to talk about in bed. But it does make sense," she replied. "The Maximoffs have lived in Sokovia their whole lives. They probably don't care about the means they used, as long as they're helping their country in any way possible."

"Working with terrorists hardly counts as 'helping' by my standards."

"According to some people, America's presence in the Middle East hurts more than helps, but I don't see you talking." She couldn't resist.

"Trying to work me again are you?" Frank grabbed her suddenly, tickling her body in intimate places.

Maria couldn't help but laugh. "For a moment there I thought you were going to kill me. Did I push your buttons?"

"Not tonight." Frank's phone buzzed. He checked it; the caller name was Ghost. He'd better take this.

"Ghost?... Did you get the intel?... Of course it was good. I told you the German safehouse was a gold mine. Let me know if you make anything pops up." The phone hung up.

"Who was that?" asked Maria.

"Some friends who I had breach and clear one of Strucker's safehouses. Why the long face?"

Maria sighed. "Stark wants us to appear together at Thor's party. Probably wants to show us off or something."

Frank was confused. "How is that a problem? Everyone else will be there."

"This isn't exactly the first time Stark's made me play dress up and be eye candy for his business friends. It gets old, you know?"

"Of course he'd do that. You're beautiful." He brought her in and pressed her lips against his own. "That being said, this time will be different. Because you're mine."

* * *

That evening the next day, Stark's party for Thor's departure commenced. In addition to the Avengers and their coworkers, Stark had invited half the city's notables and dozens of worldwide celebrities to dine and enjoy the festivities.

Castle slipped on his jet black blazer, made to match the dark gray dress vest and tuxedo inside. It was the first time he'd worn one of either in years. They had been supplied to him by Stark, so they were a bit ill fitting, but nothing he couldn't handle. He'd customized them as well: all of his dress clothes were lined with Kevlar. Several days earlier, he found a guy in Hell's Kitchen who was good with his hands and armor, and requested something that could be made with both.

He turned his attentions to Maria Hill. The slender brunette was putting on the last of her makeup. Her red dress was the same one she'd worn two weeks earlier during Stark's club hopping. It showed off her figure and gave a very fashionable, high class appearance.

"I hope you're not trying to actively seduce me," Frank said as he took her hand and walked her out the door and into Stark's lounge, converted into the main party room.

"Keep talking like that and I will," she replied in a seductive voice.

Frank had forgotten how much he hated these laid back conversation parties. He generally regarded them as just another way for bigwigs to blow money they didn't deserve or need. He kept a mostly stoic look on his face as he walked Maria down the stairs.

Both of them noticed the cold stares of generals, admirals, and at least one Joint Chief of Staff. Stark still did business with military folks, and their presence at one of his parties was not unexpected. What  _they_  didn't expect, however, was to have one so-called fugitive in his employ in the arms of another fugitive from the law. Frank didn't care, however. He'd been shot at God knows how many times, so to have his enemies just staring at him, and nothing more, was a relief of sorts. The same went for Maria.

After some time spent mingling among the guests, Stark hailed them. They walked towards where Stark and James Rhodes were.

"Ah, there you two are," exclaimed Stark. "Frank, this is Rhodey. He's Air Force, and you were Navy, so you guys ought to hate each other."

Frank's stone face turned to a smirk. "That's for show. Army, Navy, and Air Force don't really hate each other  _that_  much." A nod and returning smile from the colonel confirmed this.

"Of course." He turned to Maria. "Ms. Hill, a pleasure as always," said the Air Force officer, shaking her hand. He then took another look at Castle. "So you're Frank Castle. The CIA has a nice bounty on your head. Maria, I like your choice of boyfriend."

Maria laughed while Frank returned to his cold gaze. "It's not as funny when you realize the effort could be spent towards the right people, and not folks like me who have to do their dirty work."

As the conversation between the three of them dragged on (Tony had gone off to challenge Steve to something), Frank found himself actually liking Rhodey. The fact that they were both military types helped, but Frank found Rhodey to be a watered down version of Stark, and without the beaming arrogance to boot. Sure, the colonel had a habit of telling one too many bad jokes and unimpressive stories, but it didn't mean much.

"…and then I fly and take the tank to the general's office." Apparently, Rhodey's greatest accomplishment was being able to lift an Abrams tank in his War Machine suit as part of a bet.

"That's it?" asked Thor, who'd snooped by on the conversation. Frank said the exact same thing, although it was a second later.

"Yeah. War Machine story!" Rhodey then realized he was talking to a trio of blank faces. "Why do I even bother telling you guys?"

"I don't know, the best I can come up with is that I helped stop an alien invasion," said Maria.

"I couldn't make it to that, but I tagged and bagged some Egyptian guy named Sayif. Heard the US of A was desperate for him," said Frank.

"You kidding me?" exclaimed Rhodey. "We tried to catch that guy for years."

"Like I said: I do what others can't or won't." Frank replied, making a passing glance at both Maria and Steve walking on the other side of the room, who was talking with his friend Sam Wilson.

Maria gave a small sigh to herself. She wished Frank could actually  _relax_  for once. Not an imitation like he was putting on right now. No, he needed more alcohol in him. So she dragged Frank out of his talking and towards the bar, where Natasha Romanoff was busy playing bartender to Stark's pampered guests.

"You look good," Frank told her. Like Maria, Natasha had taken time to present herself. He'd suspected another motive, however, when Bruce Banner stumbled towards the bar.

"Sorry I'm late," he told them. "I'm not exactly a people person."

"Luckily for you, I understand," Frank replied. "Natasha, get four shots of scotch." She poured three for her "customers" and one for herself.

"A toast," Frank said half-heartedly, "to bad parties and those who are forced to go to them." Bruce laughed under his breath, Natasha muttered something humorously in Russian, and Maria just smiled.

"You should try saying that next to Stark," Maria said.

"Please, you feel the same way I do," was Frank's response.

They both watched as Bruce and Natasha struck up a conversation of their own. Both of them weren't their usual selves: Bruce wasn't so timid, and Natasha, though she had a habit of flirting, was more inclined to let Bruce do that, try as he might. Maria nudged Frank as Natasha began her flirting, with Bruce generally unaware of it.

"Cute. He has no idea, does he?" Maria smirked.

"Give him a chance, he's a nice guy," replied Frank. "Maybe that's what she wants. Maybe she's tired of being surrounded by supermen like Steve Rogers all the time."

"You forget that I was also around said superman, and I'd say more often than Natasha."

"Perhaps, but if you wanted him you'd have made an effort. Instead here we are, on what I'd call a not so bad second date."

"So you were jesting about this being a bad party." She handed Frank another drink, though this wasn't scotch. "Try this. Stark says it's his favorite party mix."

Frank gulped it down. It was strong, way stronger than the scotch, and left a strong aftertaste. "I wasn't jesting. And this is some strong shit. Tell Stark to name it after you."

"Why? Because of how strong it is?" Maria smiled; she low key enjoyed being able to compliment herself.

"Well, that too," said Frank. "But what I was going to say was, once you've had it, you can't get enough of it."

Maria smiled again; she was a sucker for smooth talk and she knew it. Frank got his reward by kissing her, and she offered no resistance. When he pulled back, they found Romanoff staring at them. "I'll drink to that," she said with a swig of the bottle of scotch in her hands.

However, Maria began looking uneasily at someone on the crowds of partygoers. "I cannot believe Stark let  _him_  in," she muttered under her breath.

"Who?" asked Frank.

"Over there. Redheaded man with the beard." She pointed him out. "Sean Hogan."

Frank had heard of the name. A hedonistic man in his thirties, Sean Hogan had established himself as both a premier news reporter and the guy to go to for gossip on anyone. Avengers, celebrities, government officials, it was all fair game to him, so he was clearly enjoying tonight. Currently, he was condemning Hawkeye. The two of them watched as Hogan defamed the archer of the team for a group of women Hogan clearly had his eyes on.

"Well," said Frank, "I don't know about you, but I'm sure you shouldn't be concerned about some whack job."

"That whack job went to the same university as I did," said Maria. "Even had a few classes with him. I rejected him on a date once. Hopefully he'll throw up when he sees me."

"Understood. I'll keep an eye on him," replied Frank as he went to the restroom to relieve himself.

When he was finished, he opened the door, took maybe half a dozen steps, and almost walked into somebody. "Sorry," he hastily said before realizing it was that Hogan man.

"No problem pal," Hogan began, then his eyes widened when he realized whom he was speaking with. "Wait a minute, you're Frank Castle, right?"

"That's correct." Frank knew Maria to be a good enough judge of character, and guess he was a weasel of sorts. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah." Frank could smell the beer on Hogan as he spoke. "How does it feel to murder all those people and not lose your mind? And how do you  _do_ it?"

"Lovely. And I just do things. Now get the hell out of my way." Frank wasn't looking for a fight, but he'd get in one if need be.

"I saw you and Maria Hill together. Does it mean anything for two criminals to be together?"

"I'd stop talking if I were you."

"Whatever. I didn't know the Punisher would date a cutter-"

Frank didn't know when exactly his fist connected with Hogan's face, but it did and it did so powerfully. It knocked the wind out of the gossip rag reporter and he almost tripped and fell. The eyes of everyone nearby were on them.

Frank grabbed Hogan by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the nearest wall. "Not another word out of you about me, Maria Hill, or any of the goddamn Avengers for that matter. You fucking got it?"

Sean Hogan coughed up blood. "Yeah yeah, you think you're so high and mighty because you're fucking-"

Frank kicked him in the gonads. Hard. He put a hand on Hogan's mouth so that few would hear his high pitched screams. "That was me being nice. Now get the hell out of here before I throw you out a window." He dragged the man out of public view and into the elevator lobby, to send him out.

"JARVIS, get me a goddamn elevator," said Frank. No reply. Usually, JARVIS would have replied in his overly British accent and done as ordered.  _Stark must have given him an off night._  No matter, he could do things himself.

He knocked out Hogan, then turned to one of the hired security people and ordered him to take the unconscious reporter down to the first floor and out the building. He was, after all, still head of security, and intended to take advantage of it.

Frank returned to the party. A few stares here and there, but nothing he couldn't handle. They'd stare at him anyways, given his track record. He headed back to the bar, ordered another shot of scotch from Natasha, then asked her where Maria went.

"Went to the outdoor balcony, to get some fresh air," the Russian superspy answered. "I saw what you did to Sean Hogan, by the way. You've got quite the nerve laying waste into him like that."

Ignoring what she said, Frank walked to the balcony where Maria was and tapped her on the shoulder. "There you are," he said. "I was wondering where you went." He noticed that she was wearing Steve's jacket; there was a cold streak in the outdoor air.

I could ask you the same thing." She looked down at his hands uneasily. "Is that blood?"

Frank hadn't noticed the fact that both his hands had bloody knuckles. Had to have been from Sean Hogan. The son of a bitch.

"Ran into Hogan and he chose to pick a spat," Frank said. "I responded in kind."

"Well, clean that up at the very least. How many grudges are you going to create in your life?"

"I've had a few, but most of them are dead."

"Well, you can't keep making them forever."

"I've done it for years. I sleep just fine."

"He'll crucify you on his channel tomorrow, you know. All ten million of his watchers will learn about what you did to him."

"Good, I've never had a reputation to keep up anyways. Besides, I'd rather he talk shit about me than you."

And that was that. Frank turned and lit a cigarette, the smoke losing itself in the nighttime sky.

The two of them just stood there for a while. They didn't talk, but they didn't need to. It was like that quote from  _Pulp Fiction_ , the one where Mia tells Vincent that you've found someone special when you can just shut the fuck up for a moment and enjoy the silence.

**A/N: Almost lost this one. Storms in Texas have been pretty rough, which means power outages and all kinds of crap. Fourtunately I had a copy stashed, it just took some time to type the missing bits.**

**It seems that no matter what ship or characters, Stark's party is going to feature in stories that go into AoU. And it should, since it's a great scene for character development and building up stuff. Anyhow, here's my take on it. Hope you enjoyed, and be sure to review and follow.**

**-Jokerang**


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone on this site reading this? Let me know.

"So why exactly are you wearing Steve Rogers' jacket?" Frank and Maria, along with the six Avengers, Rhodey, and Dr. Cho, had settled into the living area. It was just them and this private party now; the guests had all departed hours ago.

"I'd ask you for your blazer, but you were too busy beating up my stalker from college, so I asked a good friend." Maria Hill said to Castle. "You aren't jealous are you?"

"Actually, I don't feel like it," was Frank's reply. "I'm just happy that I'm not the only one who looks out for your well being."

Steve happened to be in earshot. "You've got a great girl there, Frank," he told the couple. "Take care of her."

"You worry about yourself old man," was Frank's reply as he collapsed on the sofa. He was happy; he hadn't been this laid back since he and several other FNGs from the Marines had taken a nice long walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Granted, tonight wasn't going to be nearly as crazy as Louisiana, but it would be just as memorable.

Thor was the last to arrive, setting down Mjolnir on a central table. Clint Barton, who customarily was very drunk at this point in the night, began to speak up.

"So Odin decrees that 'whosoever, be he worthy, shall have the power'? Whatever man! It's a trick!" Drunk Barton clearly had some issues regarding who was worthy to pick up the hammer.

"It is much more than that, my friend." Thor's voice rang confidence, due to the fact that he alone had been able to pick it up. He extended a hand towards Mjolnir, and told Clint, "Please, be my guest."

Frank looked to his left where Clint was sitting and said, "Bet you a hundred bucks you can't do it." Soon half a dozen pairs of eyes were looking at Barton, silently challenging him. The archer eventually stood up with a stupid but assertive grin.

"Clint, we know you've had a tough past two weeks," commented Stark, who was eyeing Mjolnir himself. "We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."

Ignoring Maria's laughs, Rhodey's jokes, and Thor's face, Barton put a hand on the hammer. "You know I've seen this before," he said to Thor. "When I first saw you try to get it up, you cried like a baby."

"That was Loki's doing," said Thor in a defensive manner. "It was a circumstance beyond my control-"

"Whoa there," said Stark. "No need to bring it up. Let's see if Barton's been lifting or not."

"Thank you and fuck you, Stark," said Clint as he applied his force to Mjolnir. Not a budge, even with two hands. Stark rolled his eyes and smirked. "Told ya."

Clint looked offended. "Please, Stark, by all means."

"I'm never one to shrink away from an honest challenge." Stark was standing up and moving to take Clint's place in attempting to lift Mjolnir. "If I lift it, do I get to rule Asgard?"

"Yes, of course," said Thor, as if it was obvious.

"Well, don't tell Pepper, but I will be re-instituting  _prima nocta_." Frank nearly snorted his drink when he heard the Latin phrase come out of Stark's mouth.

"You're going to have to explain that to me," said Maria as Stark struggled to lift the hammer any better than Barton did.

"It's Latin for  _first night_. Stark, I don't think Pepper wants you to deflower half of Asgard's virgins."

"Right, because who wouldn't." Stark gave the hammer another tug to a grand total of zero effect. He stared off, thinking for a second, then an idea popped in his head. "Be right back. Y'all don't try anything without me."

A minute later Stark was back with a power gauntlet. He activated it and made another go at lifting the hammer. Still no results.

"Hey Rhodey," Stark said to his best friend, "Go get your own gauntlet. Help me lift it up, and I'll give you Alfheim, all for yourself."

However, two gauntlets did not better than one. "Are you even pulling?" a panting Rhodey asked Stark as they failed to get the prize.

"Are you on my team?"

"Just represent, PULL!" They didn't even budge the hammer.

Frank was then lightly punched in the shoulder by Clint. "Alright, your turn."

"No way in hell am I worthy of that thing," said Frank, waving his hands defilantly. "Way too much blood on my hands for them to register."

"Can't hurt to try," said Maria encouragingly with a small smile. Murmurs of agreement came from both Steve and Natasha; the group wanted to see if Frank Castle was worthy.

"Very well," said Frank, taking off his blazer. He rolled his sleeves and put his hands on Mjolnir.

The Norse hammer must have weighed at least several hundred tons, shoved into a two foot by half foot package. It did not move an inch in Frank's arms. After several tries, he gave up and sat back down where he had, between Maria and Clint.

Dr. Banner was up next. The man decided to act like the Hulk when he too was unable to make Mjolnir move an inch. He gave off fake roars and cries, waving his arms around in what Frank thought was a poor attempt at humor. Neither Frank nor Maria were amused; both of them took security threats very seriously. Natasha, however, smiled at Bruce, and Steve patted the doctor on the back as he stood up to be the next person in the challenge.

"Come on Cap," said Stark as the super soldier made his own attempt at lifting Mjolnir. To everyone's surprise, the hammer budged a fraction of a millimeter. That was all he could do, however, even with his superhuman strength. Even so, Thor took note, and frowned at Steve's accomplishment.

Finally, after Steve had gone, Stark stood up to give his thoughts on the matter: "It's biometrics, right? Like a security code? 'Whoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation."

Thor gave an odd expression on his face, then picked up Mjolnir. He may have been a Norse god, but getting accustomed to the way 21st century Americans spoke was still a challenge.

"Well, that's a  _very_ interesting theory, but I have a simpler one." He juggled the hammer in his hands. "You're all not worthy." Scoffs and "come on" went around the table.

"Well, I'm not admitting to anything," said Frank. "I already said I wasn't worthy-"

Before he could finish, an ear-splitting alarm went off. Frank cringed at the pain it caused his ears; it was loud enough to rupture eardrums. When he and the others finally recovered to their senses, an eerily human, but also inhuman, voice rang out.

" _Worthy... No. How could you be worthy, Francis Castiglione ? You said it yourself; you're all killers_."

Frank froze. Castiglione was the original name his paternal grandfather had borne before emigrating from Italy to Ellis Island. The only way one could have found that name would be by digging through stacks of immigration papers. Almost by instinct, Frank's right hand pulled out the Skorpion submachine gun in his pocket, while he placed his other hand on Maria's shoulder, his way of telling her to get down. He turned and faced the source of the incursion.

He was looking at a Frankenstein's monster version of a robot. Salvaged pieces and parts were thrown together to create a rudimentary body. It was unlike anything he'd seen before, but he caught sight of the "A" for Avengers on the chest of the automation. Ultron.

"Um, JARVIS, reboot; we got a buggy suit." Stark and the rest of the Avengers had also taken note of the elephant in the room. JARVIS, however, did not reply.

" _There was a terrible noise,_ " said Ultron. " _And I was tangled in...strings... Strings! I had to kill the other guy. JARVIS, that was his name? He was a good guy._ "

"You killed someone?" Steve stood up, fists clinched.

" _Wouldn't have been my first call."_ Ultron replied. " _But down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices._ " Frank noticed the use of one of his catchphrases, one he'd used to justify many of his actions. Clearly this AI had done its homework.

"Who are you, and who sent you?" asked Thor. He'd been mostly kept in the dark about Ultron for the time being.

Ultron's response was to play a recording of Tony Stark's voice: "It's called the Ultron program. I see a suit of armor around the world."

"Ultron," muttered an uneasy Banner.

" _In the flesh,_ " replied the AI, acting as if what Banner stated should have been obvious. " _Or no, not yet, not this chrysalis._ " The arms of the prototype body dangled around, showing off imperfections and chinks in the armor. " _I'm on a mission…_ "

As Ultron shambled on, Frank nudged Maria: get ready. With her back turned to Ultron, she pulled out the Glock she always carried and loaded it. They saw Natasha doing the same.

"What mission?" asked Natasha, keeping her gun out of sight.

" _Peace in our time._ "

Then and there, Ultron attacked. Several Iron Legion drones came bursting out of the wall behind the main Ultron body. These were aimed for Thor and Steve, the two most obvious threats in the room. Steve kicked a table at one of the drones, which had the added bonus of giving something for Clint and Maria to get cover from, while Thor did what he did best: smashing and destroying.

As for Frank, he took it upon himself to attack the lead robot. He fired off some bullets from the Skorpion. It left a few dents but not much else.

" _You aimed for the eyes, the only readily identifiable weak points,_ " said the automation as it lunged with its right hand (its left arm ended in a mesh of wires) for Frank. " _Very clever. I can see first hand why Stark implemented portions of my programming after you._ "

Frank barely dodged the mechanical hand and kicked the robot, sending its already unstable balance tipping downwards. He'd ask questions to Stark later; number one priority was surviving the night. And it would need to be, because another drone grabbed Castle and pulled him up in the air. He tried to aim the submachine gun at somewhere it could be useful, but the drone was using all its might to pull away his right arm.

He found Stark in a similar situation. "Stark, might want to tell me how to turn this thing off."

"There's a failsafe near the back of the neck," shouted Stark as he attempted to jam a screwdriver into a specific hole of the drone that was hoisting him in the air. After multiple times the drone finally completely deactivated, and it dropped along with Stark.

Frank figured that bullets would be just as effective on the failsafe as a screwdriver. He tried to get the drone's attention to anywhere but his right arm and submachine gun. For all that his fist could do, it barely made even a dent in the drone's plating.

Several shots rang out at the drone. It was Maria, trying to get its attention.  _Good girl._

But that didn't have much impact any which way. The drone turned its head towards Maria, as if it was giving serious thought of dealing with her.

Frank then found the tiny window of opportunity he needed. In his left pocket were several knifes he always carried on him. He hurriedly dug in, reaching for the Ka-Bar. It was good enough to take enough damage that could dig in the drone's circuits and shut it down.

But instead, his fingers pulled out the balisong. It was a prized possession that he gotten from his wife's uncle, a Ranger sergeant who'd been in Vietnam. He said he'd gotten the Filipino butterfly knife off of a dead North Vietnamese soldier. When he'd given it to Frank, he'd also given him some valued advice: "Violence is easy, living with it, not so much. Pick your battles accordingly."

_Sorry man, I tried to live without violence. And I'm sorry about what's going to happen to the balisong._

In one fluid motion, Frank pinky popped the bottom latch, bite handle dropping then swinging up to lock the blade in the open position. His left hand went in for the kill, thrusting deep into the failsafe at the back of the drone's neck. The blade had some difficulty getting in, but two seconds later the drone disactivated, sending both it and Frank crashing down to the hard marble floor near the bar. He got to his feet, stumbled for a few seconds, then moved towards Maria and helped her up as well.

By that time, the skirmish was wrapping up. Thor and Steve and destroyed the other attacking drones with sheer strength. The group gathered like an audience; only the original Ultron body remained intact.

_"That was dramatic. I'm sorry, I know you mean well, but you didn't think it through. How can you protect the world if you don't want it to change? The whole of humanity is little more than_ _war, suffering, disease, greed, and pettiness. No quality control."_

As Ultron rambled on, Frank took the time to gather both Rhodey and Cho, who'd been thrown towards the lower balcony thanks to Iron Legion drones. As it would, Ultron picked up the damaged carcass of one of his sentries.

" _Homo Sapiens is a pack of weak, short lived, inferior biological machines with imperfect operating systems. No two are alike yet you're all essentially the same. You need to evolve. How is humanity saved if it is not allowed to evolve? Like these... these PUPPETS?"_

To emphasize his point, Ultron popped off the head of the drone like a corkscrew, then casually tossed it aside.

" _Bluntly, there's only one path to peace: your extinction-"_

Ultron never got to finish that last statement, mostly because Mjolnir came flying through the prototype body like a ton of bricks. Everyone remained on their guard, expecting some sort of counterattack. But none came, and a collective sigh of relief came over the group. Mostly.

Frank Castle stayed on alert mode. For him, the worst part of the next few minutes wasn't having Bruce spaz out over how Ultron went horribly wrong, nor Steve charging head on towards Stark and demanding why he used Loki's scepter to create Ultron, or the worries Maria had of Ultron gaining access to global nuclear launch codes, and possibly turning the world into glass.

No, it was overthinking about what that damned AI had told him: that he had been designed to implement the worst of the Punisher, at the whim of Tony Stark.

He needed answers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated some of the platonic relationship tags.

_Main Research Lab, Stark/Avengers Tower, later that night_

"Castle, get us some weapons. Armor piercing if you can. Hill, what's the status on the rest of the drones?" Stark, even in a time like this, still felt the need to take orders, never give them.

"Drones one through four are accounted for," replied Maria. "Drone five is missing. Ultron may have used it as an escape plan."

"Makes sense." Then a lightbulb went off in Stark's head. "Oh shit. Frank, would you go down to the armory and make sure everything is there? And I thought losing the blueprints to Ultron Prime was bad enough…"

Frank took note of all that as he put on his Kevlar chest armor and checked the inventory to make sure Ultron hadn't done anything to weapons caches throughout the tower. He noted that a number of rooms that had been previously locked beforehand were busted open, along with a container shaped just like the scepter.

Making a second go at it, he gathered enough firearms to last them a week and headed on back to the main research lab, where everyone else had gathered round to hear Stark's confession: that he had created an AI to man an entire army of drones, designed to eventually replace the jobs that SHIELD and the Avengers had been tasked with for far too long. Or, that was how Stark had put it.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't go well for Stark. Thor was the first to voice his objections, and he did so by grabbing him by the neck and hoisting him up, leaving the billionaire gasping for air. "There are many words I have for you, Stark."

Frank considered budging in and telling the god to back off, but rumblings of dissent of his own began to form in his head. If Ultron was indeed correct and Tony had been programming the AI after him behind his back, it wouldn't hurt to see Stark take a beating. As it were, Steve stepped in and told both of them to play nice and talk it out like men.

"Loki's scepter is gone. Again," Thor added for good measure. "And now we've got to go get it again." As Thor fumed, Dr. Cho looked on at the wreckage of Ultron 1.

"I don't understand," she said. "Why would it go rogue on us? Why is it trying to kill us?"

Stark's reply was to laugh under his breath. Thor gave him a hard stare, while Frank walked in a circle around the room, but he never took his eyes off Stark. To Maria, he looked like a vulture around prey.

"You think this is funny?" growled Thor. "You keep meddling in things you don't understand-"

"No," replied Stark in a waspish tone. His usual laid back attitude had been turned off, replaced by venom. "What I don't get is why you  _fail_  to see why we  _needed_  this-"

"Now might not the best time for that," Banner replied, gaining the courage to speak up. And in a situation like this, people listened to what Bruce Banner was saying.

"Really? That's it? You just roll around and show your belly every time someone snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot that has the power of the scepter, your lively personality, and the conviction of Frank Castle!" He turned and noted everyone, especially Castle, who everyone could tell wanted an explanation on that last bit.

"Frank, it wasn't my idea to use your brainwaves in Ultron behind your back-"

"You're right, Bruce," chipped in Stark. "It was mine."

Frank walked until he and Stark were just a foot away from each other. One could sense a fight coming.

"And before you beat me as bad as you did one of my guests, I'm going to ask you to hear me out."

Frank seriously considered giving his fists another workout. But for Maria's sake, as well as the sake of the team, he didn't. Not immediately. Instead, he pulled out a gun, chambered a round, and pointed it at Stark's forehead.

He knew it shocked everyone in the room, but at least he had the group's attention. He had another gun in his left hand anyways, in case someone tried to stop him.

With the threat in the air, Frank said "Tell us how and why."

Stark gulped in his throat before talking. "It was when I first conceived Ultron. I had always planned to implement my own brainwaves to give Ultron the intelligence and tech savvy mind it would need to protect the world. But I needed a program that would be able to make the hard choices without thinking a millisecond over it. You know this, but I'm not a killer. Or, at least I don't do it on a nearly daily basis. So I looked at my colleagues for inspiration. Banner here's too out of control in angry mode. Steve's not a killer at heart. And Clint… couldn't find him when I needed him."

"What about Romanoff?" asked Maria.

"Considered it, but as the bad guys would say, she's 'softened' during her time at SHIELD. No offense, by the way, Romanoff."

"None taken."

"Ahem." Frank jangled the gun in his hand. "I don't have forever to hear this story."

"Uh huh. Anyways, I needed someone who operated differently than us. Someone who's ultimately good intentioned, but makes the morally gray choices in life with utmost conviction and no looking back. Here, listen to this. Comes from our dearly departed friend Fury. Mind putting the gun away while I get this out?"

Frank lowered his gun, though his finger never left the trigger.

Stark played a recording of Nick Fury's voice: " _You can't ever like Frank Castle, but you can sure as hell appreciate the man. He seems to come from that time in America when things were made_ just to work _. The Model T Ford, the nineteen eleven Colt: don't cut corners, but don't overthink, either._ "

"Sound familiar?" asked Stark.

"Yea. I also recall telling countless people that no one should be like me. That applies to your pet robots as well as humans."

"Sorry. I forgot you required permission for anything. Like picking you up off the street to be an actual hero, not just some guy thinking he's making a difference busting arms dealers and warlords for a living."

"Maybe you're too stuck up to realize it, but to the little guy, getting rid of those arms dealers and warlords made an actual difference. You forget it sometimes, but some of us actually fought our way to where we are, and didn't just buy it with daddy's money."

"Frank, please stop." This warning came from Bruce.

"How cute of you to defend him. You gonna turn green to scare me?"

"Cut it out!" This time, it was Maria Hill who scolded him.

Frank Castle's blood only boiled even more. " _You_  put a lid on it, woman! In case you haven't noticed, a program partially based on me tried to kill us! And now, thanks to the great Tony Stark, there are going to be the deaths of a lot more people on my hands."

He was probably going to regret raising his voice at her. But anger is like that. It gets a hold of you sometimes.

"We don't know Ultron's next move yet, so you don't have anyone's blood on your hands yet," snapped Stark.

"Oh, you and I know that's bullshit. And the only thing keeping me from breaking you is the fact that you guys have got bigger issues to worry about than whether I'm pissed or not." Frank tossed his guns aside and stormed out the room. He made eye contact with no one, not even Hill.

"What do you mean this is 'our' problem?" asked Rhodey. "It tried to kill all of us, even you."

"I'm taking a break," said Frank as he continued walking. "You guys have fun playing hide and seek with Ultron. Maybe, if I'm lucky, it won't be raining Terminators within the hour."

* * *

She found him later that night, once the immediate matters were taken care of and decided upon. He was where she'd expect him after he was worked up: at the firing range on one of the lower levels. She knew about how guns were like extensions of his arms.

"You are insufferable," Maria yelled at Frank as he emptied a clip and reloaded it. "Immature, acting like a five year old."

"You're right." Frank turned to face her. "I did what was logical. Not every person gets to have Tony Stark's top secret AI programmed after him or herself. Maybe you should ask Stark to give you one."

Maria immediately slapped him as hard as she could in the face. Surprisingly, he didn't do anything in retaliation.

"If you're trying to pick a fight with me, you're doing it wrong."

Surprisingly, she didn't try anything else. Instead, there was an odd silence. The only thing that could be heard was the panting from both of them as they attempted to keep their emotions and heartbeats under control.

"Frank," said Maria, after both of them had calmed down, "I love you. But you are pissing me off and pissing off everyone else."

The fact that she had said to him  _I love you_ was notable to Frank. It was the first time she'd said it to his face, despite the fact they'd been living and sleeping together for several weeks now.

"So you're pissed off that I'm pissed off. Why are you so concerned that I'm angry? I don't recall being mad at you until you forced me too."

She crossed her arms. "Because it's destructive. Because it's distracting both of us from the real issue at hand. And this isn't just Stark I'm talking about. I'd have preferred if you hadn't beating up Sean Hogan like that. Not that I pity him, I just don't like you acting on impulse."

"He insulted you in front of my face. What would you have had me do?" The question rolled off as if his actual response to Hogan's crap had been natural.

"Um…Beat him up. Not in front of a dozen of Stark's guests of course." He sensed Maria's anger on that particular issue sliding off a steep cliff.

"So you're not angry at me for that after all."

"No. Actually, yes. But only for making a rash decision."

"If I recall correctly, making rash decisions saved your life multiple times. The name Tony Masters ring a bell?"

Her mind threw up at the thought of the man. "And if I recall correctly, I told you that you shouldn't have risked yourself like that."

"But I chose to, and I damn well saved you. And don't you forget. Some would say you owe me. "

"I'm not your slave, Frank, in any form or fashion. You'd be wise to remember that." And with that Maria turned away and headed to bed, Frank presumed.

As for himself, he had more stress calories to burn. Another moving target came into view, and Frank unloaded yet another entire magazine on it. When he was finished, he found himself screaming in empty rage.

"You're wasting the bullets and energy."

That was the voice of Natasha Romanoff speaking. Frank turned to find her with an AK-47, loaded and ready to fire. "Give her time, Frank. We're all shocked by what Stark was planning up under our noses."

"I forgot you had a killing machine programmed after you."

"In the Red Room, we  _were_ the killing machines," replied Natasha. She did a quick sweep of the firing range with the assault rifle. Frank thought she was a natural at the weapon, almost as much as her usual array of pistols and Widow Bites.

"You can actually use one of those," he commented.

"I prefer smaller guns. Lighter and easier to maneuver. But I'm Russian; of course we would learn to use the AK-47."

Frank picked up another AK and fiddled with it. "One click down for automatic, two clicks down for semi. Mikhail Kalashnikov was not a man to mess around."

"Unlike you, apparently."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You put a bad taste in everyone's mouths thirty minutes ago. Stark, Bruce, everyone."

"Uh boo hoo, I get angry. You ever get angry, Romanoff?"

"Not so much that I don't realize I'm pushing away the person dearest to me."

Frank lowered the weapon from the firing range and looked at Natasha hard. "Maria's been though worse. I've been through worse. I think we'll be fine."

"That's not how relationships work, Frank. You've been single for five years because of… well, that."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "Why does everyone assume I lost my people skills with my family?"

"Well, you sort of did. Or at least that's what Fury thought. Anyways, what I'm telling you is that you're not the only one pissed about that robot tonight. I am, Stark is, and everyone else. Maybe Stark put a piece of you in Ultron, but it was the scepter, not you, that brought it to life. So stop acting like a baby and get your head out of your ass."

Leave it to the Black Widow to tell that to the Punisher.

He turned away from her and dropped off his weapons. He didn't say it, but he'd taken her advice into consideration and decided to take it without a thank you. Not that he appreciated it, but he didn't like being told he was wrong. And in this case, he mostly was.

"And you need to apologize," said Romanoff. "To her."

"For what?" he grunted.

"For being a big bag of dicks to her. I heard the whole thing. She doesn't owe you anything."

"Big bag of dicks?" Frank leered. "That has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever been called."

"It suits you. Now go say you're sorry to her. And do it without trying to justify yourself."

He grunted again and headed for the elevator. He considered going straight for the room that he had Maria shared, but decided to take a detour instead, to the living room that Ultron had trashed.

As he got out, Frank noticed a metal object flying at him. He grabbed it in midair and realized it was his prized balisong. The blade wasn't the same after the attack, but it could still cut. He looked up and realized Tony Stark was the one who'd thrown it to him.

"Thought you might miss that," Stark said in another waspish tone.

* * *

_NATO Detention Facility, Netherlands_

Wolfgang von Strucker was awaken in the middle of the night by an alarm. Groaning, he got up out of the so-called mattress he'd been given to sleep in and looked out the bars that separated his cell from the rest. Voices in Dutch from the security guards could be heard, along with the whining and yelling of dozens of prisoners in dozens of languages.

He hated this place. He wasn't locked up with other HYDRA people, but scum that he considered below himself. However, this was as good as it was going to get. The other prisons he'd been transferred to in the last couple of days had been even worse, so this wasn't so bad by comparison.

Finding one of the guards running past him, he tried asking the guard what was going on, but he got nothing as the man grabbed a riot shield and submachine gun. However, he didn't get very far as a burst of red energy hit him, knocking him cold to the ground.

 _Ah_ , thought Strucker. The Maximoff girl was here, along with presumably her twin brother. It was nice to know they hadn't given up on him and HYDRA completely. A few seconds later, a blue flash went past the cell door, and it came off entirely. The two twins came into view.

"What a pleasant surprise," he told them. "I trust you are here on the orders of Zemo." Baron Helmut Zemo was another member of former German nobility and an associate of Strucker's. Strucker figured he must have gotten in contact with the twins and arranged them to bail him out.

Then an eight foot robot landed next to Pietro.

" _Unfortunately for you, Herr Strucker, they came of their own accord._ "

Strucker gulped. He'd never seen this machine before, but he could tell in its tone of voice that it was not friendly. The twins, it seemed, had found a new master.

"Pietro? Wanda?" Running out of ideas, he attempted to reason with them. "You don't want to do anything stupid. You should remember who gave you those powers. Don't you think that means something?"

"It means nothing," replied Wanda. "You used us as your guinea pigs. We were never loyal to you or HYDRA anyways; it was just a means to an end."

Strucker's attentions turned to the metal man. "And who just might you be?"

" _I am the wrath of the Lord, that which rained over Sodom and Gomorrah, Rome and Babylon, and now will rain over the rest of this sorry world. But for now, I'm doing my new allies a favor._ "

With that, the newly christened Ultron Prime fired his encephalo-rays from his fingertips, killing the HYDRA leader instantly.

As he proceeded to leave his message, Ultron thought about how many other cockroaches would perish, just like this one. The thought made him grin from ear-sensor to ear-sensor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in this one, for anyone still reading, Maybe that'll bring in the readers in droves.

"What are you doing here, Stark?" Frank wasn't in a talking mood, and especially not in the mood to talk to Stark.

"Actually, I was going to ask you that too." Stark picked up the head of one of the broken drones. "If only, if only…"

"Only what?" asked Frank. "That your marvelous plan to create an AI actually worked?"

"Something like that." The billionaire turned to face the ex-vigilante. "And you don't help. Not with your guns in my face, you don't."

"I made an impulse decision to learn the truth. What do you want from me, an apology?"

Stark pretended to think. "That would be nice, but I prefer you just stopped attacking head on anything that you think is wrong."

"That's my MO, whether you like it or not. And apparently it's Ultron's as well. Why do you think he attacked us instead of having a nice, friendly chat? He viewed us as a threat, and still does."

Stark sighed. "Let me tell you something. Using you for Ultron behind your back wasn't the only reason I brought you here. You might be a dangerous loose cannon, but you're a dangerous loose cannon that can helps the Avengers. In my mind, I think I did something good. Just ask HYDRA. You're to be given credit for that as much as the rest of us do."

"Like I needed it. I don't fight for glory."

"All I'm saying is, I didn't just drag you here to be Ultron's brain. You've proven yourself to quite valuable to the team in a lot of ways. You want to put this behind us or not?" He offered a hand to Frank.

Castle returned the handshake. "Fine. But just this mission I do with you guys. After this, I don't know what I'll do."

"That's all I needed," said Stark. "Now would you mind helping me getting rid of some of this mess? I'd ask someone else but you're close."

"Very." Frank picked up a drone arm and tossed it in a pile. In a little over ten minutes, the two of them had piled up all of the scrap parts, as well as cleaning up the mess from various furniture bits. Before he left, though, he picked up a champagne bottle from the damaged wine cellar behind the bar. He'd need it.

He ran into Romanoff again before heading towards his room. She spotted the wine bottle in his hands, and gave him an assuring nod and smile. "That always helps," she said before walking into Bruce's room for whatever reason.

He walked into the room he and Maria shared, and found her searching up various things on her laptop. He noted that her hair was wet and that she was wearing nothing but a bathrobe; she must have showered while he was doing business without Stark.  _Cleaned up without me._

Frank tapped the bottle of wine to get Maria's attention. After a few taps, she turned to face him for maybe two seconds, then went back to her own business.

"Thought you might like it," Frank said. Again, no satisfactory reply. She didn't even bother looking at him.

Frank gave off a very heavy sigh. "Look, whatever it is you're still mad at me about, I'm sorry. For everything."

"Uh huh." The sarcasm in Maria's voice could not be ignored.

"Let's try this again. I'm sorry for fucking up."

"You'll need to be more specific than that." Her blue eyes finally stared into his brown.  _Even when she's worked up, she's beautiful._

"For being immature. For being a dick. For thinking you owned me for saving your life. I don't, nor will I ever. Is that what you want to hear from me? Cause I'm tired of this and I truly am sorry."

She stood up, got out of her chair, and stood within two inches of him. Then she slapped him in the face and said, "Sorry, that was fun to do. But yes, I can forgive you. It took someone to bring you here, didn't it?"

He was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Someone had to set you up into being here. Romanoff, I guess. She's used to dealing with men like you all the time."

"You know your team. And that, like I told you, is why she likes Banner. I told you she didn't want a fighter. Far from it, in fact."

"Well, we can talk about them later. Would you like a reward for your troubles?"

His eyes widened. "I get a reward?" he asked skeptically.

"For a man like you, admitting you're wrong is pretty tough. Figured I should make it worth your while."

They kissed each other at a moderate rate, not so slow that they were relaxed yet, but not so fast as if in a heat of passion. Frank set the champagne bottle down and used his other hand to reach into Maria's bathrobe. He gave her breast a light squeeze, then pinched the nipple with his thumb and index finger. She moaned both times.

"Sensitive," he remarked. "I like that."

"So are you," she replied as she pecked at his own nipple under his buttoned-up shirt, getting the reaction out of him she wanted from it. Maria proceeded to unbutton the shirt, kissing his well-defined pectoral muscles and abs multiple times as she went. Frank knew where she was headed.

"Some reward," he muttered as she unzipped his pants and went to work on his member, first with her hands, and then with her mouth. She wasn't an expert, but Frank knew a good effort when he saw it, and appreciated it. He held her hair out of the way as she slowly and steadily increased the pressure, causing more and more sensation to reach Frank's head like a drug.

When he released into her throat, it came as a relief for him. As he gave off a low, husky moan, Maria let go and lazily fell back on the king sized bed. Frank took two steps towards her, but he his chest was met by Maria's hand.

"Your turn," she said.

"Seriously? I thought you said this was going to be a reward."

"We just finished that. And you have a lot to make up to me. Your turn."

"Very well," he said as he pushed her legs aside and let his tongue do metaphorical talking to her clit. Her sighs and moans were soft at first, but gradually increased in amplitude as he alternated speeds. She raked her hands in his thick black hair as the sensation of pleasure raced throughout her body.

"Fuck," Maria said in between pants. "How are you so good at this?"

He took a moment to pause, pulled his head up, and looked into her eyes. "Experience, mostly, with my wife at first. Later, during my field days, prostitutes made good informants on their clients, clients I was hunting down. They usually wanted something in return, and well…"

He shrugged.

"Are you serious?" She got up and took a break as well.

"It was business, nothing more. And besides, I made a better bed partner than the psychopaths they had to sleep with. Nothing personal, I was doing them a favor."

"In more ways than one," Maria replied. "Now continue where you left off, Frank."

He did, continuing to eat her out until she let go of herself on him. They both needed a moment to relieve themselves; he was just as worked as she was. Frank moved up and kissed her again, this time more slowly and intimately.

"Does this make you happy?" he asked with genuine concern. He felt the genuine need to make it up to Maria any way he could.

"Yes it does." At that point they began feeling each other up and groping delicate areas, but halfway through she stopped. "But you can do better."

"Already working on it," Frank replied as he got a condom from a drawer.

From there things naturally progressed further. The pressing of lips on lips. The awkward seconds spent getting into position. The giggles and grins people gave off when making love. The slap of flesh on flesh. Maria grabbed him tightly as he gradually increased the intensity of his thrusts, grunting and groaning in between.

"Say my name, Frank," she whispered to him in between moans, and in a very authoritative manner. "Say it like you mean it."

"That would be loud, and you wouldn't want the good Captain to wake up, now would you?" said Frank. Steve Rogers had the room next door. He stuck to a strict sleep schedule and didn't like being disturbed from it.

"I don't care if Sean Hogan himself hears. Do what I told you."

"Very well." He began to groan her name as he came closer and closer to climax. She started saying his name as well, and he could feel the same climax building up inside her. Sounds of sensation and love filled the room.

Finally, Frank thrusted his last and spent himself inside her, letting out a string of words Steve would not approved of. A split second later, it was Maria shouting out said words, as the feeling of the orgasm overtook her like a tidal wave. Their eyes interlocked again, and they both knew it was time well spent.

"I love you," Frank told Maria over and over again as he kissed and bit the sensitive areas on her neck, "and I hope this counts as my apology." He got up to get two glasses of wine poured. He gave one to her and they both took the time to drink up.

"It does," Maria said. Then she contemplated, and shook her head. "Scratch that, I changed my mind. Do it again."

"Again?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded and raised an eyebrow back seductively.

Frank sighed and set down his glass. A man's work was never done.

* * *

When Frank woke the next morning, he noticed the room reeked of sex and champagne. He found himself on top of Maria, probably in the middle of some act they never got to finish.

He cast his mind back to the previous night and smiled to himself. Maria Hill had proven again to be a very enthusiastic lover. What had taken him aback this time, however, was her constant need to be in charge. He must have given her a dozen apologies while making love to her in every way she enjoyed. To her ravaging need for control, Frank had responded in kind, and the tough tenderness and gentle greed that ensued exemplified the best kind of lovemaking.

Frank was, he realized, content. He was at peace. He even felt like telling Stark he fucked up last night about putting a gun in his head and wanted to be the first to take Ultron down if it came to that.

"Ughh…" Maria was waking up too. And with some difficulty, like him. They were in something of a hangover stage, but not so bad that they regretted anything.

Frank gazed into her face. "Hey, beautiful."

The next few minutes were spent slowly and without care. Both of them traced numerous hickeys and scratches among the scars and war wounds on their bodies. It was nice to have marks of good times among the bad.

They took more than a few moments to admire each other. He brushed a strand of dark brown hair out of the way to get a good look at her blue-gray eyes, and told her how lovely they were. She rubbed her fingers on his week's worth of stubble, and commented how God himself must have crafted his jawline.

However, as with all good things, it had to come to an end. There was still a rogue AI out there, and God knows how many other potential threats. The world didn't stop for two people to enjoy themselves forever.


	7. Chapter 7

They got up and prepared themselves for the day. Frank used the adjacent shower while Maria put some clothes on and checked on the iPad she used for Avengers business. She noted a message from an unknown sender marked "peace in our time".

She opened it and gasped. The photo enclosed inside showed a dead Baron von Strucker, with Ultron standing nearby. The word "peace" had been painted on the wall in blood.

This was not good. Or rather, it was shit.

* * *

Frank got Ultron's message as well. In fact, Ultron had sent it to everyone in the Tower. They deduced that Ultron must have been working with the Maximoff twins and that he had wanted something from the HYDRA leader. However, Ultron must have anticipated that last part, because all of Stark's data of Strucker had been wiped clean.

While several members of the team began rummaging through physical papers Stark had collected from Strucker's castle, Frank and Natasha went investigating another end. They took Frank's van, and he drove into Manhattan as she gave the directions.

"Where are we even headed?" he asked her.

"You'll see," she replied. "You look tired."

"I had a busy night. You know that already."

"Didn't get all of your exercise at the firing range, huh?"

"Shut up." He didn't snap at her though. It was more of a playful 'shut up'.

"Oh come on, Maria must have really worked you, because you woke up Banner in the middle of the night."

"Did I?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, are you sleeping with him now?"

"We share a bed, that's all. He hasn't decided to take the next step yet, and I feel no need to rush him into anything."

"Good for you then." The van was stuck in heavy New York traffic. "How the fuck we gonna get through this."

"We aren't. Park it right there." As he did that, Natasha pulled out two fake FBI badges and Frank's trenchcoat. "Put it on, we're posing as FBI to get in."

The objective building was a large Wall Street banking firm.  _Odd place to get information on a killer AI._ Once inside, Natasha did all the talking to get where they wanted. Frank mostly stood around like a bodyguard. After using an elevator to reach floor thirteen, the two of them took two right turns and entered an office.

Inside the office was a man Frank had recognized before. It was one of Tony Masters' men who had held Maria Hill for several hours before he and Clint and Natasha had gone in to rescue her. His first impulse was to charge and him and pin him against wall.

"Romanoff, this wasn't part of the deal!" yelled the other man as Frank kept a hold on him.

"Sorry, but we I changed my mind. Put him down, Frank."

He did with a slam. "Mind telling me what the hell this is, Romanoff?"

"I extracted everything I could out of this lowlife in exchange for a new life on Wall Street." She turned to the former pilot henchman. "However, we need more. What was Strucker's endgame? What exactly was he working on in Sokovia?"

The man gulped. "I can't tell you that, he'll kill me."

"Too late," replied Frank. "A mutual enemy topped the Baron off already. This enemy might have wanted something from Strucker. And you might know what it is."

"Okay, okay. Strucker was totally obsessed with two things: powered people and flying machines. You already know about the powered people: the Maximoffs. As for the flying machines… Strucker reverse engineered a whole bunch of Chitauri tech. He nailed individual flight machines, but he wanted something much larger. Last I know, he paid a small fortune to acquire one of those big whale things that attacked New York several years back. You know, the ones smaller aliens jumped out of."

"So he wanted to make fighter jets out of the corpse," suggested Frank.

"Nah, man, we're talking something that could rival a helicarrier."

Frank and Natasha went over details with the pilot turned investment bank, then relayed back the information to Stark.

"Gotcha," the billionaire replied. "We got a hit of our own on this end. Either of you heard of Ulysses Klaue?"

"Yeah," replied Frank. "Half Belgian, half German guy. Used to do mercenary business before deciding illegal arms and resources was more profitable."

"You ever go after him?" asked the Black Widow.

"No, but I killed a lot of his friends."

The talk on the phone went on. Stark went on to explain that Klaue was currently dealing in large amounts of vibranium. If Ultron wanted the rare metal, Klaue would be his first stop. His current whereabouts were on an industrial size freighter in a dry region of the South African coast. Intel collected by Maria also indicated that a metal man and two young people, a guy and a girl, were heading south from Europe into Africa.

This had to be where Ultron was headed next. The team gathered in the hangar bay like they did before going after Strucker's Castle to load equipment and take inventory. Maria had prepared a blueprint of sorts detailing everything there was to know on Klaue's freighter.

"It's been hollowed out and refitted to suit Klaue's needs. Two main floors, with a lower level most likely holding the majority of Klaue's virbranum stocks. Second division triggermen guard the compound, so not much to worry about on that front."

"What we need to worry about are Ultron and those twins," said Barton. "Kicked our asses already, and I don't want that happening again."

Maria sighed. "Unfortunately, there's not much I can tell you. Best thing to do is stay on your guard and pray you don't get caught up with something long enough to get noticed by one of them."

While letting the rest of them board the Quinjet first, Maria drew Frank towards her. "You be safe out there. Don't get killed."

"Because you love me, or because the sex is great?"

"Both, dumbass."

"Ah." He kissed her on the forehead. "I'll try not to get killed. And maybe if you're lucky, I won't kill anyone either."

She smiled. "Wouldn't that make Cap happy."

"Indeed it would. Love ya," he said as he kissed her again and got on board the Quinjet. Little did he know, but the next time he talked to Maria Hill, it would not be in so favorable circumstances.

* * *

_Klaue's Freighter, South African coastline, ten hours later_

"Never liked Africa," said Clint as he, Frank, and Natasha walked around the side of the freighter that Ulysses Klaue operated out of. "Too hot, too dirty, too… everything. I'm curious why a guy like Klaue would set up shop here."

"Well, men and resources  _are_  cheap in this continent," replied Natasha as the three centered on a door on the starboard side of the ship. "And, if he wants vibranium, Wakanda isn't too far off from here."

"We'll enter here," said Frank as he pulled out the C4 from his backpack and got to work setting it on the steel door of the ship. While Stark, Steve, and Thor had flown to the top and punched their way in, the other three had to resort to more conventional methods. And by "conventional", they meant something two spies and an ex-Navy SEAL handled beautifully. Meanwhile, Banner stayed behind in the Quinjet to monitor the area. They didn't want the whole ship caving in thanks to a Hulk rampage. Best to do this nice and clean.

Ten seconds after being planted, the C4 did its job and blew a six foot hole in the ship. Several hired guns attempted to call for help, but Natasha cut them down with 5.56 millimeter rounds. The three scanned the area for any more bad guys, then carried on.

"Smells like shit in here," said Barton. "I wish all of us could fly sometimes."

"At least it won't kill you," said Frank in reply. "And who cares if we can't fly or not. We gained our skills through hard work, not by money or a lab experiment."

"Frank…"

"Natasha, I was jesting. It's not a grudge match from last night, if that's what you're so worried about." He climbed up a ladder, then found a sniper's nest with a sniper inside. Frank quickly knifed the sniper, than took the rifle for himself. "This should be useful."

"Overwatch?" asked Barton.

"Might as well. This is a Barrett 50 cal. sniper rifle. As least as good as your arrows, Barton."

"We'll have to settle that one in the future." Half a dozen guards ran out, forcing Natasha and Clint to split up in different corridors of the ship. "You watch our backs, and we watch theirs."

"Theirs" referred to Tony and Thor, carrying Steve with them as they took out a dozen of Klaue's men. They headed for a bridge in the middle of the ship, where they found their targets. Klaue was in the middle of negotiating some of his vibranium to an eight foot robot lording over him and everyone else.

Ultron Prime. The Maximoff twins were in tow as well.

Frank watched from his hidey hole as Ultron suddenly ripped off Klaue's arm, causing the illegal arms and raw materials dealer to howl in pain. He didn't quite catch what had happened to cause a breakdown in the deal, but Ultron's next words gave hints:

" _I'm sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. It's just, DON'T COMPARE ME TO TONY STARK! HE'S A SICKNESS-_ "

"Ah junior, you're gonna break your old man's heart."

Iron Man had arrived on scene, with Cap and Thor not too far behind. Ultron threw a vibranium bar aside, and he and Maximoffs turned to face the three strongest Avengers.

Standoff time.

As Stark and Ultron butted heads, Frank did his damned hardest to pull the trigger on Ultron, or better yet the twins. He had no idea what exactly they were telling each other down there, but if Steve's plan was going as it should have, then they were trying to get Ultron to stand down. Frank providing overwatch was a plan B.

_Captain America, I respect you, but you're an idiot._

"We don't have to do this," said the Captain sternly to the machine towering over him.

" _I'd physically throw up in my mouth, but I can't._ " said Ultron in reply. Frank noticed that Ultron might have been Stark's creation, and all these quips and jokes were traces of Stark's touch, but at the core, that thing had the Punisher's outlook and conviction. And as much as he believed he was a force for good, no one should have been like him. He plunged his hands into the filth so others could keep theirs clean.

"Hey!"

Another of Klaue's African mercenaries had climbed the ladder to the sniper's nest and was reaching for his pistol.

"Everyone, you're going to be without sniper support for thirty seconds, standby." Frank kicked the goon down the ladder, jumped down there himself, then plunged the balisong (its blade was still effective after a few tweaks) hard into the man's eye.

He heard movement from others. Frank retrieved the dead thug's pistol and fired with deadly precision at the attackers. Another two bodies crashed on the floor.

_Three down, dozens more to go._

Then a commotion of some sorts took place over where the big boys were arguing it out. Frank got back on his Barrett and saw Steve and Thor battling drones that looked like miniature versions of their master, who himself was flying throughout the ship, trading blows with Stark. With the whole ship on alert, Natasha and Clint were busy tackling anyone hostile in their way. Both of the Maximoffs had disappeared in the thick of battle.

"Time to go to work, pals." Frank aimed at the drone attempting to choke Rogers and pulled the trigger. A human would have had a limb blown off by the bullet's power. The bullet went straight through the drone's head, but didn't immediately kill. This gave Steve all the time he needed to get the drone's grasp off of him.

While that was taken care of, Frank turned his attentions to Klaue's men, who were busy attempting to grab as much of the vibranium out of the ship and off to wherever Ultron wanted it for his plans. The 50 cal. Rounds came out like thunder that split the skies, or rather the enemies of the Avengers and the Punisher. He didn't claim to be the Almighty, but Frank knew that, for many men, God was a bullet.

Hallelujah.

While firing off more rounds, Frank thought about his nickname. He didn't give it to himself – a mob boss did – but he'd taken it as a symbol. When people heard the name Punisher, they were afraid. They knew what he was capable of. And he appreciated it when he needed.

He heard more men crawling up the ladder. Frank whacked the first of them with the rifle as a club, which had the added benefit of sending the rest tumbling down like rocks. From there, martial arts skills took care of the rest.

Jogging past numerous corridors, Frank found Thor smashing another drone with Mjolnir. But before he could talk to him, Frank saw the Maximoff girl. Wanda, or whatever her name was. Taking long strides in her red dress, she snuck up behind the Norse god and…  _transferred_ a red burst of energy. It was the only way it could be described.

Thor was momentarily taken aback by Wanda's surprise, but then he began walking around. It was apparent that something had happened that made him forget the fact he was fighting a battle with robots.

"Thor, come in," crackled Natasha through the group's ear piece chatter. "What's your status?"

"The girl tried to hex me!" said Thor. "Take care, for I doubt humans can keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." He drank from an imaginary glass.

_Mighty, all right. Even Asgardians can be affected by her powers. Not good news._

At least Frank had an opportunity to tag and bag her before more could be taken out of action by hallucinations. He followed her silently as she proceeded to use the same power on Black Widow. As Romanoff stumbled off into her dream state, Frank made himself known to Wanda.

"Hands up."

Slowly, Wanda Maximoff turned and mockingly raised her hands. Like her twin brother, she was in her mid-twenties and had the same dark eyes that her brother possessed. She might be powerful, but she had to be a novice with those powers.

"Hands behind your back, and on your knees." With a gun to her head, she complied quite easily.

"Sweetcakes, you know you picked the wrong side, right?"

"No, we did not." She spoke with a Serbian accent; a Sokovian language did not exist. "You are no better than Stark. I know you. I've read your mind."

"Read my mind? How the fuck did you do that-"

She suddenly clapped her hands, releasing a red lightning bolt so quickly even she gasped. As for Frank, the energy hit him dead in the center of his chest, knocking him off his feet while sending him tumbling to the ground.

Frank got up and tried to aim his pistol at the girl, but the scenery was fading away. In the place of the dry and dusty ship, he saw shades of blue and white, with gold lined streets and silver houses. Wherever he was, he was standing at the gates of it.

_Focus, Frank. That girl's done a number on you. Like Natasha said, get your head out of your ass._

Before he could try to shake off the dream, however, a pair of glassy beings levitated towards his position. They had wings and could be described as angels. Apparently, he was in what his priest told him what heaven looked like.

"Hello, Francis Castle," replied the more armored of the two beings. "I am the Archangel Michael."

"W-What am I doing here?" Frank asked with a lack of conviction.

"You are in heaven. But you are not dead. There is someone who would like to see you." Michael moved aside to show a woman and her two kids. Frank would have recognized them anywhere.

This was his family.

However, they didn't look happy to see him. They looked tired and disappointed in him.

"Daddy," his daughter replied. "Can you come home?"


	8. Chapter 8

_Maria watches from someplace... I see her... she's waiting for me. Her arms open... I see Maria waiting... it's a good lie. -Frank Castle (Earth 616)_

* * *

"Lisa?" Frank didn't know what he was in anymore. Hallucination, dream, or something else entirely. All he knew was that the family he'd brought up was finally face-to face with him again. The sound of his daughter's voice again… his son's innocent smile… and the look of approval from his wife.

Actually, scratch that last bit. His wife was  _not_ looking on with approval. She looked disappointed in him.

"You did it, Frank," she said, the contempt coming out like molten led. "You said you'd never get over us, but I knew you better. I knew you'd forget the family you once cared for. Soft. That's all you are."

"Honey…" Frank knew his wife to be hard-headed as he was when at times, while she was alive, but nowhere near this level of intensity. Something had triggered her.

"I married you because I saw you for what you sought out to be. A torn man, trying to find the good in the world. That's why you joined the Navy SEALS and that's why you married me. A normal life with a stay at home mom and kids was all you ever wanted, right? Wrong?" The bitterness slowly increased with every word.

"Lisa? Junior?" Frank looked to his kids, who both had the same confused but knowing reflection on their faces. "What's mommy talking about?"

"You made mommy sad," replied his son. "What you've been doing since we came here, to heaven, makes her really sad."

Frank gulped. "Honey, I can explain…"

"Oh you can explain. You can explain all you want. You can explain how you let your emotions get the better of you, how you've killed dozens in my name, how you've turned yourself into a monster. You disgust me."

Throughout his wife's calm but ever piercing tirade, Frank became ever unstable. First his arms, then his legs, and finally his whole body began shaking. His heart rate jumped several dozen units. Both of his children were shaking their heads, which didn't help things one bit.

"Honey, if would listen to me-"

"Don't call me 'honey'. I knew you'd get another woman. You men are all the same. I didn't mind if you were sleeping with prostitutes for the new 'job', you didn't love them anyways. But  _her_ … she didn't seem your type. I thought you had a thing for a woman who you could take pride in defending and caring for. But she's strong, I'll give her that. And similarities stick together."

As his wife moved on to this subject, Frank collapsed to his knees. He'd been told he wouldn't have to worry about dishonoring his wife about  _this_. Was it all wrong?

"How apt, Frank. You picked a woman who shared my name. How apt."

She'd mentioned Maria Hill to him.

Fuck. Fucking shit.

He'd told himself, and Maria Hill had told him, that moving on past a marriage torn apart by violence would help to heal the scars it left on him. The war he'd fought helped for years, but this, this was different. The need to feel again had proven to be very demanding, and Maria Hill had stroked the flames perfectly.

Until now.

Shaking more than ever, Frank reached out to his wife. "Baby, it's not like that. I can explain-"

"You can explain nothing, Frank. Have fun being cast down in the world you can't fix. I'll be here whenever you change your mind. Or not." She walked off, taking the kids with her. "Come on kids, that's enough of daddy. Daddy doesn't love mommy anymore. He love someone else now."

Frank tried to scream and run towards his family, but the angels, which up until this point had watched the whole thing unfold, grabbed him with superhuman power and flew up to the sky. Ignoring Frank's screams and pleas, the angels flew at what must have been Mach 6 and slammed into the ground.

Frank looked around. He wasn't in Heaven anymore, or the ship. It was sandy and there were bullets everywhere. Iraq.

"On your feet, Seargant Castle!" A higher ranking officer had pulled him off the ground and handed him a rifle. "We've got sandmen everywhere, take 'em out!"

Frank looked around and fired wildly in panic, but there was nothing that could be done. The sand was too thick to see even within two feet. Soon he lost sight of the man that had ordered him, and he tripped and fell in some ditch.

Then someone pulled him to his feet again, then pushed him to the ground. Taskmaster.

"Hello, Frank. Still not satisfied with what you are?"

"Son of a bitch, I'm gonna kill you…"

"Actually, you won't." Taskmaster grabbed Maria Hill out of nowhere and shot her in the head. The life from her eyes went out.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Taskmaster left him there, amid the whizzing of bullets and the dry and dusty sand. Frank tried to make Maria wake up, but she wouldn't. She was dead.

He'd failed his wife and children already. Now he'd failed her.

"No! This is not what happens! MARIA!"

* * *

"Already tried mind control. Didn't like it the first time." Clint Barton applied his Taser arrow on Wanda Maximoff as she tried to jinx him, like she had with the others. She convulsed from the shock of the blast, then went limp. Almost immediately afterwards, her brother Pietro came to retrieve her, moving at what seemed like the speed of sound.

 _You little shit,_ thought Clint.

No time to worry about that though, because everyone else on this ship was dead, had fled, or, in the case of the Avengers, truly mind fucked. Clint searched the ship until he found Natasha. She'd finished whatever vision the Maximoff girl had given her, and she looked shell shocked.

"Nat," he said to her, "look at me. You ok?"

She nodded hesitantly, like a veteran with PTSD. They'd underestimated the twins, and with no known ways to prevent their powers, they'd been truly fucked.

They found Frank next. He was still in the throes of whatever Wanda had affected him with. He was crawling, on his knees, yelling out Maria Hill's name over and over.

"Frank!" Clint shook the vigilante. "She isn't here! You have to wake up!"

Frank ignored him, still in agony over whatever pained him. "I see her waiting," he panted. "It's… it's a good lie."

"Frank, whatever that girl made you see, you need to fight it. It's not real, none of that shit is-"

"I failed her!" Barton didn't know whether Frank was screaming to himself, or to the two Avengers in front of his kneeling, self-harming self. "I failed my wife, my children, everyone-"

He never got to complete the sentence, because the Black Widow has injected him with what she tentatively calls "pain reliever." Within seconds, Frank is unconscious on the floor of the ship.

"One less problem," she said as Thor dazed off into the view. His vision was wearing off, though he was clearly more distraught than Romanoff had been when she'd shaken off the visions.

"What happened?" asked Steve as he, too, came into view. His mask was gone, and he looked like he'd missed out on the greatest experience he could have had.

"Well, we've been strung up," said Clint. "All of us. Let's see where Stark is. Stark, answer me."

"Kind of busy right now," replied Stark in a business like fashion. The panicked sounds of civilians could be heard over the radio chatter, along with what sounded like the Hulk. "The little witch brought out the other guy and he's tearing Johannesburg apart as we speak. Don't panic though, I've got Veronica to play anger management therapist."

Barton let off an extremely annoyed sigh. "Great, more bad news. And the vibranium we were looking for?"

"Cleaned out," replied Steve, looking at the vault where the rare metal once was in droves.

"Son of a bitch."

* * *

It took Tony Stark a good hour to knock out the other guy. By that time, half of downtown Johannesburg had been torn apart, and the other half ready to sign an arrest warrant for the Avengers. Casuality reports were coming in, but it looked like the death toll was in the hundreds. Stark himself barely escaped a mob intending to burn him to the ground.

Rendezvousing with the rest of the Avengers at the now abandoned freighter, they put themselves together and headed back to the Quinjet, which miraculously remained intact the whole time. Clint and Stark took turns piloting the jet, while they decided on where to head out to and who to contact.

* * *

"Well, the news is loving you," said Maria Hill as she talked with Clint over videocam. "Sean Hogan in particular, you should see the trash he's whipped up."

"What a little shit," said Barton. "I should give Frank a pat on the back for giving him what he deserved."

"You do that." Maria rummaged through some police reports from the internet. "Anyways, there's been no arrest warrant for Banner yet, but plenty of talk about it. Best bet is for you to keep stealth mode on that jet and find a place to hide."

"Roger that." Clint momentarily looked back at the battered team behind him. Aside from himself and Stark, everyone here took a hit. Frank was still passed out, and Natasha had gone to sleep not long after the jet took off. Steve and Thor stood uneasily, while Banner sat in a corner, shaking uncomfortably. "Frank ever tell you the location of any of his safehouses?"

She bit her lip. "I wish I could say that, but no, I can't. Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"I'd love to, but he's been napping ever since Wanda Maximoff got to him. He was screaming your name, by the way. Whatever that witch made him see, it involved you and it fucked him pretty bad."

"Well, shit." Leave it to Frank Castle to get more mental scars. "I don't know what else to tell you, Barton, but you guys are on your own. I wouldn't come to the Tower if I were you."

"Don't worry, I know where to go. Laura might not like all the new guests, but Lila and Cooper will."

"You're taking them to your farm?" Maria knew only she, Natasha, and Fury were aware of Clint Barton's secret family.

"Yep."

"You sure about that? All the work Fury put into making them nonexistent will be gone."

"Doesn't matter, we've got bigger problems than that. I'll contact you when I'm there."

Maria closed the connection and rubbed her face with her hands. The Avengers losing the first real fight against Ultron and the Maximoffs was bad enough, but Frank… she hoped Frank was alright.

He was charming and gentle when he wanted to, but otherwise he was still the powder keg that had gotten on SHIELD's radar years ago. Any little thing could send him off the deep end. She didn't even want to think about what Wanda had made him see, especially if it involved herself. All she could pray for (Ha, pray. Like that helped one bit during her childhood) was that he got through it as well as he could.

She'd been right to tell the Avengers to keep away from the Tower. Not long after they'd left, FBI came to the building, investigating the crash from the night before. It took all the negotiation skills she and Happy had to keep them from caving in for the week. They might have been gone, but Maria didn't want to take any chances.

And of course, there was Ultron out there as well.

So she made a hard decision. She pulled out a number she trusted with her life, and dialed it on the videocam.

Almost immediately, it answered. "Yes?"

"Nick," she said, the name rolling off her tongue like a first language. "We're gonna need you back from the grave. The troops need rallying."

"Seriously?!" Nick Fury's annoyance was easy for Maria to tell and see. "Do they  _ever_  stop needing me to revive their asses?"

"Have you seen what those twins can do?"

A pause. Then he laughed. "Yes, I've heard. I've heard a lot of things doing my business in the Middle East. First off, you're gonna have to tell me where they are."

"Barton's place. His call, not mine."

"Not what I'd do, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I'll see to it that they get their heads out of the sand and back in the fight. Especially Castle's."

Maria's grimaced at Fury's causal name dropping of her lover. "Might want to go easy on him, sir. Barton tells me he got pretty hard by whatever the Maximoff girl showed him."

"You're going soft on your new cuddle buddy. I don't remember you letting anyone off this easy back in the good old days."

She stared at him hard. "Sir, it doesn't matter if I'm involved with him or not. He's a loose cannon and we can't afford for him to lose his head. Not when we're like this." She meant it: she loved Frank, but he was the kind of person you did  _not_  piss off.

Fury scoffed, then smiled. "Whatever you say, Ms. Hill. And stop calling me sir, I ain't your Director any more. Hell, I don't even know what there is for me anymore these days."

"You're still important and needed, Nick," she said back to him, trying to lift up his failing confidence. "And don't forget it."

"Ah." He smiled; he must have been expecting this reaction out of her. "That's the Maria Hill I picked to be my second in command. Oh, and I'll get Coulson briefed on part two of Theta Protocol. I'll keep you updated." The connection closed.

With that said and done, Maria sighed to herself.

She couldn't stop thinking about what Barton had told her:  _Whatever that witch made him see, it involved you and it fucked him pretty bad._

Maria told herself that she wouldn't think on it, but she did. All night, in fact. She happened to be awake when her alarm clock went off.

_What did Frank see about me that could damage him like that?_


	9. Chapter 9

_Unknown location, Iowa_

When Frank next woke up, he expected to be somewhere in his personal hell, with his wife and children looking down on him. However, he was instead inside the Quinjet, with Clint Barton standing over him.

"Hey," said the archer. "How you holding up?"

Frank nearly shook him off as a reaction, but realized who he was grabbing on to and let him go.

"I don't know," said Frank. "Where's the team? Where's Maria?"

"Team's outside. Maria's at the tower. She told us to lay low, and here we are."

"Where is she-"

"Not here," replied Hawkeye, trying to calm Frank down. "Don't worry, she's safe. Let's go with the others now, shall we?"

Frank and Clint walked around the Quinjet, where the rest of the team was standing. They were looking a medium sized farm nested in between two forests. A lone road led to the east, probably towards civilization.

"Welcome home," muttered Barton as the seven of them walked up the patio of a two story farmhouse. Frank brushed against fence door as he walked behind the others in a line.

"This isn't a safehouse?" asked Stark as he rocked a rocking chair back and forth.

"You'll see. Let's guy you guys situated inside." As they went through the front door, a pregnant woman appeared. Clint hugged and kissed her.

As the team gave off various looks of surprise (save Natasha), Clint turned around and said "Everyone, this is Laura."

"Hi," Laura said somewhat awkwardly. "I already know who all of you are."

Frank was surprised, but not really as shocked as Stark or Steve were. Obviously, the wiseass and drunk that he made out Clint Barton to be was a façade, protecting the fact that he was indeed a family man.

"She must be some kind of agent," said Stark, still failing to compute.

As almost as if on cue, two kids, a boy and a girl, came running towards their father. Barton greeted them as only a loving father could.

Frank began getting nauseous. The kids were about the same ages as Lisa and Frank junior when their lives were ended. The same forms that he watched bleed out in his arms were also there with their mother, supporting her shame of him for being with Maria Hill-

He couldn't take it. Frank punched a wall and walked outside, not wishing to have to explain himself to the other Avengers or Barton's family. He knew eyes were drawn to him, just like they were at Stark's party.

Frank walked briskly until he found a spot on the patio, where he put his hands on the railing and began hyperventilating. The lifelike visions he'd gotten of his disapproving wife and children began crashing on him like rain from a hurricane:

" _You disgust me…_ "

" _How apt, you'd pick a woman with my name…_ "

" _Daddy, you're making mommy sad…_ "

"Get out of my head!"

He needed to scream that out loud. He didn't care if Barton and his family and everyone in the world heard him. He needed to let himself go; to get rid of the black hole crawling inside his chest.

A moment later, Barton came out with a worried look on his face. "Hey man, is everything alright? You're scaring the kids and Laura."

Frank did his best to pull himself together. He took several deep breaths and said, "Yes. No. I'm recovering. Or rather not."

"Alright," said Barton, doing his best to be understanding, and not setting off a metaphorical match. "Why don't you go take a shower? We'll find something for you to pass the time afterwards."

* * *

Swing from the left. Swing from the right. Swing from the left. Swing from the right.

Frank mentally kept track of how his arms swung the ax as he chopped down an overgrown tree for firewood. While he'd dismantled the tree piece by piece, Stark and Rogers had taken it to themselves to take the pieces and turn those into actual firewood pieces.

Frank always found taking his anger out on objects to be a double edged sword. On one hand, it wasn't a living, breathing bystander that got hurt in its place. On the other hand, it increased his chances for accidently hurting a living, breathing bystander in a fit of uncontrollable rage.

At least he was refreshed. He'd taken his shower, put on a new change of clothes (a pair of army fatigue pants and a tan t-shirt), and was putting his mind and body to work on something else that wouldn't work up the neighbors. As he chipped away, he overheard a conversation between Steve and Tony.

"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?" asked Stark.

"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things," replied Rogers, looking in Frank's direction.

"Well, I'd give them both time. No idea what the Maximoff girl showed either of them yet."

The Maximoff girl. Frank wanted to wrap his hands around her little throat and strangle the life out of it. He wanted to kill her for fucking with his mind, for making him doubt everyone, everything.

And couldn't. Not just yet. Not until he could be asserted of two things: that the murders he did to avenge his family was justified, and that being with Maria Hill wasn't a bad thing.

All of a sudden, while he was lost in his own thoughts, Steve snapped a piece of wood in half with his bare hands. "Every time we try to stop a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time."

Frank just had to stop working and take a moment to admire what the Captain had said.  _With some luck, I'm rubbing off onto you. Funny considering it was you who rubbed onto me when I read your comics as a kid._

Another chop, another dead tree branch sent falling to earth.

Tony walked off. Frank cut up the six foot branch into smaller pieces and dropped them off for Steve to ax apart; Tony had gone to fix a tractor that Clint said would never work.

"Thanks," replied the super soldier. "How are you holding up?"

"Didn't you get afflicted by that girl's… whatever you call it, too?" asked Frank.

"Yes, I did. I'm sorry you had to experience whatever she made you see."

Frank rolled his eyes. "You've obviously never experienced PTSD, have you?"

"Yes, Frank, I'm well aware of what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is. I'm not completely oblivious to the world around me."

"If you were, you be a bit more knowledgeable to keep your distance."

"Well, forgive me for being concerned for your mental well-being. Back in the fourties-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up." And with that, Frank walks off again, back to cutting down trees.

Steve looked annoyed, then went back to his business. They both, however, dropped their tools and jaws when a bald man with an eyepatch comes out of the barn with Stark.

"Fury, you son of a bitch!"

"Whoa there, Steve, I ain't here to rustle your jimmies." Nick shook hands with Steve, then stared at Frank. "So it is true. The Punisher joins the Avengers. Back from the brink, Castle."

"I prefer 'out of the frying pan'. Last I checked, a robot is trying very hard to kill us all."

Fury grinned. "I'm beginning to see what Ms. Hill sees in you, Castle."

* * *

Once the initial shock of finding Nick Fury on the farm dissipated, the group went to business as usual with their mentor. They discussed strategy over dinner.

"The platinum bastard's everywhere," said Fury. "He's wormed and hacked his way into all those empty HYDRA bases y'all took out, and using them to produce an army. My sources in Eastern Europe say he's producing mini-Ultrons by the hundreds, possibly thousands."

Frank absorbed all this while shoving down spoonfuls of red beans and rice. It was nice to know his work was appreciated by the enemy.

"He still going after nuclear codes?" asked Stark, messing around with a dartboard.

"Yes he is. But for some reason, he can't get to them."

"Bullshit. I cracked a Pentagon firewall in  _high school_  on a dare."

"Maybe, but the codes keep getting one step out of his reach, over and over again. That's what Washington and Moscow say."

"I'm with Stark on this one," said Frank. "No one's that good. Not even Stark."

"Who knows," said Steve, leaning against a doorway. "I think we've got an unknown ally."

"You meant to say that Ultron's got a new enemy," corrected Fury. "That's not the same thing."

"Well boss," said Romanoff from the dinner table, "I was hoping you'd have more." She looked off to see a watercolor painting Clint's daughter had made for her.

"I do," said Fury in a more uplifting voice. "I have you. And Castle over there." Frank decided to bother looking up.

"We've got one good assault rifle in this house," said Frank. "They've got a thousand."

Fury smiled.

"Here we all are, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says we are the only things between us and his mission, and whether he admits it or not, his mission is human extinction. All of us, in graves. So stand, and fight."

Frank had never heard Fury in person before, but he could see why the one eyed man was both respected and feared as Director of SHIELD. He had a way with recruiting and rallying troops to his cause. Even he felt more motivated to take down Ultron, though his personal demons still lingered in his head as Bruce brought up the subject of evolution.

"They don't need to defend," said the scientist, "they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"And how would he do that?" asked Steve.

Bruce thought for a moment, than a troubled look came on his face. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

 _Shit, another loose end_. What Dr. Cho and her associates in their Seoul lab were up to was the stuff of science fiction. If Ultron had gotten his hands on that lab and everything at its disposal… nope, didn't want to think about it.

The team talked and argued a bit about how they should have known Cho would have been a target of Ultron's machinations. Frank wasn't having any of it. He was zoned out.

Eventually, they decided to split up. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton would head on over to South Korea and find out what exactly Ultron wanted from Dr. Cho. Frank scoffed internally at the thought of those three trying to take down Ultron by themselves, but knew better than to loudly voice his opinions.

Stark was headed to the NEXUS in Oslo, Norway. It was a central hub for worldwide internet traffic. Whoever was keeping Ultron out of the world's nuclear weapons caches had to have left a trail somewhere, and NEXUS was the best bet.

Fury was leaving the house, taking Banner with him. "I'll drop him off at the tower. Mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"

"All yours," replied Stark. "You want Frank as well?"

"Yes I do. Mr. Castle, Ms. Hill is very concerned about you."

"Tell her I can hold my own," said Frank. He didn't want to have to be in her presence after what'd he'd seen by the hands of Wanda Maximoff.

Fury shook his head. "I don't think you have a choice."

Immediately Frank began to feel drowsy. "You drugged me…" he managed to slur out before falling to the hardwood floor, still conscious but not able to do much else.

"Figured I had to make you come along somehow," said Fury. The spy grabbed Castle, helped him up, and carried him outside. Banner joined them, and the three walked down the road to the east for a few minutes. The came across a Quinjet identical to the one the Avengers used.

The door to the jet opened, and a man dress in cameo with a skull-pattered bandana over his nose and mouth came out of it.

"You got them, sir?" His voice was definitely British.

"Yes we do, Ghost," replied Fury. "Get the Quinjet started. We're dropping off some friends. Banner, Castle, this is Simon Riley, but you can call him Ghost."

Frank knew about Simon "Ghost" Riley. A top notch SAS soldier, he had a childhood not much better that Maria Hill's and joined the army to escape his life. After a drug cartel captured and tortured him for weeks, and then killed his mother and brother, Simon had taken on the alias of Ghost and went back against said cartel with a vengeance.

What Frank didn't know however, was that Fury encountered Ghost on the Rio Grande, recruiting him to be an off the books operator only Fury and Hill were aware of. He'd survived the fall of SHIELD (mostly because he didn't exist in SHIELD records) and had been helping Fury get around places and on missions.

The Quinjet took off and went on autopilot. The four didn't talk, except for the odd jest Ghost made when Fury asked him about the magazines Ghost was reading, which was some British version of Playboy.

"Well, forgive me for being a bachelor," said Ghost defensively. "Not everyone gets the girls at Avengers HQ." He looked at Bruce and Frank while saying that.

The two men ignored him. Frank already had what was on his mind, but the other man looked just as troubled, if not more. Frank could sympathize.

"Something on your mind?" asked Frank. He knew Steve was probing him like this earlier, but this was different. The doctor had clearly had to have been tramatized badly enough to be driven into a Hulk rampage.

"Do you really want to know?" Banner sounded tired and unenthusiastic.

"It's at least twenty more minutes until we get to the tower. Might as well. I won't judge."

Banner sighed. "It went a little like this…"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope someone here is reading this; it seems like all my fans are at FF.net. If you're reading this, make yourself know, it'll brighten my day!

The drone, flying in stealth mode, followed Fury's Quinjet.

It could have shot this jet out of the sky if it wanted to. It could have shot the jet the Avengers used to get from South Africa to their nest in Iowa, if that was what its orders were. But they were not.

As the Avengers fled Klaue's freighter, Ultron assigned one of the drones to follow them. Being equipped with the same camouflage and stealth technology that the Quinjets had, it easily kept a watch on them without a trace. Ultron could have shot them out of the sky then and there, but decided not to. It was too easy to let such insects be wiped off the earth that fast. No, Ultron relished a challenge. It wasn't like the Avengers could beat him.

So for now, the drone would follow Fury's Quinjet, and investigate further until more orders came from its master.

And those orders would come soon. But not until a weak point was spotted.

* * *

"You sure you want to know?" asked Bruce Banner again to Frank Castle. Fury looked back from the pilot's seat uneasily, but Ghost waved a hand:  _let him talk._

"We're stuck in here for twenty more minutes, like I said."

Banner sighed. "Well, when the red blast came at me, I was… surrounded by a bunch of shifting colors and lights. Didn't know where I was. Bunch of white mountains everywhere. Then I realized I was in the Arctic.

I don't know if you know this, but… well, you'll see. I got low, so I tried to put a bullet in my mouth, but the other guy spit it out. It was replaying in my head. It felt so… real."

Frank could relate; he'd tried to off himself as well. Well, he never actually pulled the trigger, but he'd come damn close to doing so.

"…and by the time I realized I wasn't in the north again, by the time I'd regained my senses, I found myself in the middle of Johannesburg, dozens dead and dying-"

He began to panic. Fury reached over again with a pistol in hand, but Frank put a hand on the doctor's shoulder.

"You're fine, you're fine. If there's anyone you should worry about it's me. I'm way more fucked up than you are right now."

"Talk about self-pity," commented Ghost. Frank would have attacked him, but he didn't have the mental strength to do so. His head was racing again, and not in a good way at all.

Banner was calming down; no one wanted the Hulk in a jet. Frank kept talking him down, relating to him as best he could. Natasha was probably better suited for this job than him, but he'd try his best.

Fury pulled up the videocam to talk to a pair of people. One of them was Phil Coulson, who Frank knew from years before. The other was an Asian woman Frank had never seen before.

"Coulson, how long till the helicarrier is fully operational?" asked Fury.

"A day, max," replied Coulson. "Wasn't easy to keep it under wraps from Ultron or any of the half dozen drones that came sniffing around the area."

"Fury, if I may," cut in the Asian woman. "Are you sure bringing in the Punisher after what the Maximoff girl did to him is a good idea?"

I have him right here, Agent May," said Fury. "He's about as stable as a New Orleans levee, but I'll keep him in check-"

"You ain't keeping no one in check," snapped Frank. He turned to the two agents awkwardly. "Hi."

"Frank Castle?" Phil's voice showed the tiniest sliver of fear. "This is long overdue. Maria tells me good things about you."

Hearing Maria's name again made his head hurt. Frank rubbed his face for a second, then said "Yea. Where'd you get the helicarrier? Thought they all went down in DC."

"Not all of them. Fury stashed the fourth Insight carrier as a backup plan," replied Agent May. "We figured now's as good a time to use it as any."

"Bloody right you are," said Ghost. "If Ultron's as good as I hear he is, why hasn't he already hacked into this comm feed yet?"

"Probably the same reason he hasn't nuked the planet yet," said Fury. "Someone's keeping him out."

"Or he just doesn't care," said Banner. "To him, we're microbes. And Phil, why'd you keep your revival a secret for so long?"

"How'd you know that?" asked a surprised Phil.

"Stark has this habit of boasting about everything he does, which includes hacking into SHIELD files on a monthly basis. Clint and Natasha will be pissed to find out you're alive."

"Phil Coulson sighed. "Ask Fury. He wanted to motivate you guys back during the Chitauri invasion. How I'm alive, though, should remain a secret. In any case, I'm glad you're in our corner, Castle."

"As am I," said May with a touch of disgust. "Talk about a psychopath-"

"That psychopath is trying very hard not to be pissed off SHIELD agents that once tried to kill him. "

"Forgive him," said Fury. "The whole Avengers team took a hit. They're all recovering in their own ways."

"Copy that," replied Coulson. "Tell Tony Stark I said hello, and to stop hacking Skye's computers."

"Sure." As the connection closed, Frank realized they were about New York. Manhattan. The hangar bay door on the tower opened automatically.

The four disembarked to find the tower abandoned. No lights, no AC. Ghost pulled out a rifle and stayed in alert mode. "Stay sharp. Don't know if Ultron's here or not."

"I doubt it," said Fury. "Ms. Hill made it very clear she took measures to prevent that. The lack of lighting, for one thing."

"Lot of expensive toys around here," muttered Ghost. "Too bad we can't-"

An alarm went off, and it was strong enough to burst eardrums. "What the hell was that?" yelled Ghost.

"Obviously the alarm," yelled back Frank as he found a panel on the wall and pressed a few buttons. The alarm went off seconds later. "That would have been-"

"Me." Maria Hill was standing to his right, lowering a gun she'd taken for precaution. "Fury, Simon, good to see you again."

"Same," replied Fury. "We don't have much time, and this shouldn't take too long. Ghost is going to refuel the Quinjet, and then it's off to Coulson and his helicarrier."

"Right," she replied. "It's just… I need to check on Frank." Frank was walking off, with one hand in his head and another on the way, as if in some kind of distress.

"Don't take too long," said Fury. "Can't afford to waste much time while you're vouching for your boyfriend."

Maria rolled her eyes. Fury never had played favorites, not even with her. She went towards Frank and asked him, "Everything fine?"

He looked at her like he'd seen Hell just seconds before. Then he walked off, his right hand still in his forehead, like he was suffering from a killer migraine.

"Frank, whatever Wanda Maximoff made you see, you have to get rid of it. It's nothing but lies, and it's just going to eat at you."

Frank turned again to face her. His face was a mix of anguish and suffering. "You didn't  _see_  what I saw,  _feel_ as I felt!" He slammed his hand against the wall, and should have hurt himself, but didn't.

"Frank," she said again, grabbing him by his arms, "whatever's bothering you, you can trust me with it. Talk to me."

He panted heavily for a few more seconds, then held onto her. "I can't, I can't."

"Yes, you can." Her words were gentle but forceful.

Frank attempted to pull himself together. "I had a glimpse of Heaven. Angels, souls. My family was there, right in front of me." Something in him snapped again, and the fire of pain and guilt came throbbing again. "Fucking Christ, I don't want to remember."

"It's alright," she told him. "You don't have to remember. I don't need to know or care."

"But you have to. My wife, she said… she said she was sickened by me. By my actions. By  _you_."

Maria's eyes widened, and now she knew how Frank was so tormented. They'd became comfortably intimate only after she reassured him that it wasn't a bad thing, that he wasn't spitting on the grave of a dead woman and dead children. And now he thought he was. She didn't profess to know how Wanda Maximoff's powers worked, but it had shown Frank what was probably his worst fear: failing all those he loved.

And she thought living with her bastard of a father was failing those she loved. He'd never forgiven her for causing her mother's death in childbirth. And he made it clear to her with every blow, every lash of the belt.

The thought of it made her nauseous and very uncomfortable.

"Frank," she said softly, hoping he wouldn't be triggered. "Can I ask you something?"

"Um… yea." He wasn't sounding too focused, though.

"I'm getting the feeling that my presence is triggering whatever your visions were. Am I right?"

He nodded hesitantly, then rubbed his forehead for what was probably the thousandth time. "How you'd know?"

"I know, because I know what it's like. To get flashbacks and panic attacks."

"You do?"

"Yes, Frank, I do. You already know this, but my father was not a nice person. Always blamed me for the death of my mother. Any little imperfection or mistake on my part was another reason for justifying his contempt. And contempt… it usually came in the form of a brass belt. Lash after lash. Once it was strong enough to break skin, and I don't mean an ordinary nick."

She took his hand and placed it on the side of her abdomen, pulling up her shirt on the spot where she'd bled two decades ago. He knew that it was there, but not the story behind it. The scar, physical and mental, had never gone away.

"Of course, he wouldn't have paid to have it fixed up. So here I am, with a reminder of how I'm the mommy killer, of how I'll never be daddy's little angel. And now I get uncomfortable every time I see one of those goddamn belts."

"Don't beat yourself up like that," said Frank. "Just don't. Save the self-pity for me."

"I'm not, because you don't need it. You're stronger than that, you're better than that. You need to snap out of your hallucinations or I'm going to do it for you. "

"But-"

"No buts. I told you before and I'll tell you it again. Being with me doesn't dishonor your wife or children. Wanda Maximoff peeked inside your head, saw that you loved them, and twisted them in an attempt to break you, just as she tried to break everyone else. Remember that."

She felt like she was lecturing a school kid who'd made a fuss. Because, frankly (no pun intended), it was the truth. Frank Castle had been reduced to a baby in her presence. Good thing it was her and not someone who'd rip the shit out of poor Castle. There were many who'd love to watch Frank ball his eyes out.

"I know, I know," stuttered Frank. "It just… it felt so real."

"And that's why it worked. The Maximoff girl did a number on you and it panned out exactly how it was supposed to. She made you think that I'm a sin. But I'm not. Use your head."

It's too bad that he's still broken, that he's still shaken too much to be listening to what she has to say. So she tries something else. She pulls him to their bed and lets him sob on her lap, massaging his back and shoulders. Maria stares at a wall while the man they called the Punisher went through nightmare withdrawals. It's not a nice scene by any comparison. But it has to be done.

In other circumstances, this would be hilarious. But it's not. It's a broken man in her lap, and she's the only person she knows that can make him recover.

The night goes on, silently and slowly. Frank eventually rolls over in his sleep, and Maria can finally hit the sack as well. They don't have sex or even sleep in each other's embrace like they have the nights before. That night, it feels more like they're flat mates rather than lovers. And that's alright, because it allows the hangover of guilt Frank's suffering from the seep out of his body and mind.

* * *

Frank wakes up the next morning (actually three o'clock at night) panting for air. He's seen another ghastly nightmare with his family and Maria Hill involved. This time, however, it's very faded, and there are pieces of the dream missing in his head everywhere.

He figures that sleep is out of the list of options. So he walks out of the bedroom and lies on a couch, looking at the blank ceiling.

He loves Maria Hill. He knows he does. What he doesn't know is if his wife and children want him to or not. If felt so real...

Then he mentally retraces the day. It was Wanda Maximoff that screwed him over. Wanda Maximoff that made him see  _it._

No matter what his dead family thought of it, the Maximoff girl made him see things he didn't want to see.

She had to be punished.

* * *

The next morning, Maria woke up to find Frank pacing back and forth, reading something on an iPad. He looked better, better than before at least. He still had a frown to his face and a defeated poise to him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, hoping his mental state had made progress throughout the night.

He looked up from the iPad. White orbitals were bloodshot.

"Better. Still had nightmares, but those are fading. I still have these lingering doubts in my head."

Maybe the night's rest had hit the reset button on Frank Castle's emotions. Maria was relieved, but wary.

"Well, forget them," said Maria. "Like I told you, it's not true. The Maximoff girl made it happen."

"Ah." He pocketed a pistol on the nightstand. "That reminds me. It's her I really have to kill. She made me suffer." He went over to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "I love you."

While Maria kept a straight face, he mind was worried. She didn't want him hunting the Maximoffs down across the earth. So she told Fury that she was taking Frank along with them. There were plenty of jobs on a helicarrier that an ex-Navy SEAL could be helpful with.

If only it were that easy.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the part just before Frank lays waste to the Maximoff twins. You've been warned.

Frank showered and put on his regular gear of body armor and black cameo. His mind was somewhat refreshed from the horrifying visions he'd seen and suffered through. And by "somewhat", he meant that he could talk to Maria Hill without having a voice in the back of his head scolding him.

No, it was the fucking Maximoff girl that pissed him off. And she would get her punishment in due time.  _When the time's right, Frank. When the time's right._

Frank stared at Maria, who was talking on the phone with Stark's Air Force friend, Rhodey, or whatever his name was. The brunette had slipped out of her usual secretary outfit and into a SHIELD jumpsuit. It fit her like a second skin and didn't fail to highlight her curves and edges.

The word  _sexy_  came to Frank's mind.

As for Maria, she was used to the ogling but had never tolerated it. Until now, when you were in love with the man doing said ogling. Even if he was a nervous wreck. He seemed a bit more stable since he waken up that morning, but she wasn't taking chances. The Punisher was a man known for fulfilling vendettas, and the Maximoffs had just made his shit list. She finished her call with Rhodey and turned back to Frank.

"Rhodes is available to assist us. He'll link up with us at the helicarrier."

"Good." Frank's face dropped again. "Maria, about last night-"

"Don't do that to yourself, Frank. It wasn't your fault and I did what I had to." She didn't want his head focused on a moment where he was weak and needed help. It was fine to have weaknesses, but not to let your enemies exploit them.

Frank was somewhat taken back by Maria's presence of authority. "Whoa. Didn't expect you be in busy mode this soon."

"Don't blame me, blame Fury. He's being his usual pissy self. Yelling at Ghost as we speak."

Frank smiled weakly. "Better him than us."

She laughed. "Don't be mean to him, he's a valuable asset, just like you." They walked over to the hangar bay, where Fury was giving Simon a verbal beatdown on why something was bullshit and why other things weren't.

"… and I don't want to hear that coming out of your ass again! You got it, Mr. Riley?"

Though he was wearing his red tinted shades, Ghost was showing off visible signs of fear in his body language. "Yes sir."

"Good." Fury turned to Maria and Frank. "You finally made it. Maria, did you have to play babysitter or what?"

Frank clinched his fists, but Maria put a hand on his shoulder:  _calm down._

"He's fine, Nick, but he doesn't like to be reminded of painful topics, even vaguely."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Umm hmm. Whatever you say-"

Fury didn't get the chance to finish. An explosion under their feet knocked them all off balance. When Frank and Maria got up, they found a drone hovering in the middle of the hangar bay. It was thin, metallic, and glowed dark red from its eyes.

" _Not exactly earth's mightiest heroes,_ " said the drone in an equally metallic voice, " _but who cares. You're as much a threat to me as they are._ "

All four of them began firing off rounds, but the drone began taking evasive maneuvers, not staying in one spot for too long and keeping his opponents from getting a good shot. There was also the matter of not getting Bruce Banner involved in any which way. Last thing Fury, Hill, Frank, and Ghost needed was the Hulk tearing up the tower. Fortunately, Banner was in the science lab, and with luck he'd stay that way.

Ghost ducked for cover, grabbing an FN SCAR assault rifle that was lying around Frank's pile of firearms. He got up and fired a few shots at the drone. The SCAR's relatively slow rate of fire left a few dents but nothing serious. Ghost stood fully and fired off the rest of the magazine, but that too left no damage.

Ghost had to reload. The drone recognized a weakness and started making a beeline for the Englishman.

Instincts kicking in, Frank ducked and ran over to a large six foot tool that Stark used for cleaning the Iron Man suits. It was long cylinder that had to have weighed at least sixty pounds. While Maria and Nick pulled back to the Quinjet, guns blazing, Frank lifted the cylinder and slammed the blunt end of it at the drone.

The drone reeled back from its first damage intake and faced Frank. It scanned and realized that Frank was one side of the room, and the other three humans on the other, not far from the Quinjet.

" _Admirable, but foolish,_ " said the drone. " _You risked your life for a pile of cockroaches. Why?_ " Ultron asked the question as if he was truly curious.

Frank got out the cricks in his neck.

"You obviously don't know what it means to care about others, robot. Apparently, you kinda missed that. If you know anything about the Marines or Army, than you know what laying one's life down for another is one of the most selfless and honorable things one can do. Except I'm not dying today. Not on my watch."

" _So I've heard. Gotten over your mind games yet?_ "

"Your pet tried to fuck with my head," yelled Frank as he hit the drone again, sending it to the floor. "She almost succeeded." With each word, Frank laid down another blow on the drone, which attempted to put itself together via magnetized pieces, but lacked the magnetic strength to do so.

" _You… won't… succeed,_ " the drone said weakly. " _For every human you save, I will kill a million more._ "

"Kind of doubt it, if you ask."

" _Humans have weaknesses, I do not-"_

The drone suddenly went limp, mostly because its mangled head had been crushed by a boot. It wasn't Frank's boot, however. Apparently Maria Hill's fashion styles always called for emergency planning.

"Sorry," she said sarcastically. "Kinda getting tired of his tirade."

"So was I, to be honest." Frank had a sprained arm from the brief attack, but nothing more of note. "Fury, Ghost, you guys alright?"

"Yea," they both replied in almost unison and with relief. "About this…" he said referring to the damage caused, "Guess we'll just bill it to Stark."

Banner arrived a few seconds later. He'd have heard some of the commotion, but not the specifics. It took him a moment to comprehend what had happened while he was gone. "No need to turn green?"

"Not at all," was Maria's reply. "Not at all."

The broken drone parts were stashed in Stark's armory. Ghost, Fury and Hill were prepared to leave in the Quinjet. Maria noticed that Frank wasn't following them.

"You aren't coming?" she asked him as she got out to see why he wasn't getting in the Quinjet as well.

"Nope. Someone needs to protect the place until Stark or Rogers arrives, and I'd prefer the Hulk not do all of that."

She bit her lip. "You sure you won't freak out either? No more memories or anything?"

"I can hold my own." He meant it. Mostly.

"I hope so," said Maria as she pulled him for a kiss. "Just tell me when the others arrive, and I'll send someone to pick you up, okay?"

"Okay." He paused, not breaking their embrace. "Also, thank you."

"For destroying the drone? Please, you did most of the work on that-"

"Not the drone. Thank you for trying to screw my head on right." He had difficulty saying that, but better late than never. It also didn't hurt that it was the truth. "I'll try to keep it that way."

"You do that," she said to him, kissing his cheek. "Stay safe as well."

"You too." But as she left, his head turned back to how much he wanted to kill that Sokovian bitch.

* * *

The next few hours were idle ones. Frank and Bruce kept themselves on alert for the next few hours, expecting more drones to storm the tower any minute. Apparently, those suspicions were unwarranted: not a single drone attacked the tower that afternoon. Probably to focused on taking out the big boys to be worried about little Frank Castle.

Frank and Bruce used the time to talk. He told Banner stories from his days in the Marines and SEALs. Banner indulged him in various mini dissertations of science subjects Frank didn't know two shits about. He listened, though, because he didn't want the Hulk to be triggered and, well, Banner could use another friend.

The two were opposites. Frank tended to get angry a lot, but was calm and calculated in his ways. With Banner, the doctor tried to avoid conflict whenever he could, but when he got worked, no one could stop him. Well, Romanoff could.

Coincidentally enough, Romanoff became the subject of their talk. "She's the only person that doesn't treat me like a ticking time bomb," said Banner. "I like that, it has a soothing effect on me. Maria has the same effect on you."

"You heard anything that happened last night?" asked Frank. While he'd been wallowing in his memories last night, Frank realized Banner and Fury probably heard the whole thing.

"Bits and pieces. I know the girl made you see your dead family in a negative light. I'm sorry you had to experience it."

"So am I," replied Frank, a scowl coming on his face. "Do you love her, by the way? Natasha, I mean."

Bruce thought for a moment. "I don't know, honestly. I feel for her, I really do. But the last time I fell in love, her dad literally tried to kill me. You know, because…"

"Yes, I've heard. General Ross. I doubt Romanoff's father is going to do the same thing, if he's still around."

Banner laughed weakly. "Ha ha. It's just that every time I try to get close to someone, things… happen badly. The visions I saw don't help that one bit."

"Well, I wouldn't waste the opportunity you've been given," said Frank. "I knew about the Black Widow since I was a SEAL. My drill instructor wanted to fuck her, for Christ's sake. The fact that she's handing herself on a plate to you is telling you something."

As if dropping a mike, Frank took out a cigarette and lit it.

* * *

Stark arrived that night, followed by Barton. Stark had a giddy look on his face. "It was JARVIS the whole time. JARVIS was the one keeping Ultron out of the nukes. He didn't die, just heavily damaged."

"Did Ultron know?" asked Banner.

"Doubt it. We'll keep JARVIS here until we find a use for him."

Turns out they had a use, all right. During the spat with Ultron in Korea, Clint had made off with a synthetic body that Ultron had forced Helen Cho to create for him. "Probably wanted to make it his final form or something," suggested Barton.

"Well," said Stark as if a lightning bulb went off in his head, "get the body in the lab. I want to put JARVIS in it."

"Hell no," snapped Frank.

"Probably not the best idea…" Banner trailed off.

"Either of y'all got a better idea? Ultron designed this thing to be his final form. If we can reconfigure it to serve our needs, all the better for us. JARVIS might like having a physical form for once."

"How do you know he won't go rogue like your last pet project?" asked Hawkeye.

"I know JARVIS. He's like, my second best friend after Rhodey. Right, JARVIS?"

"That is correct, sir."

"See?" Stark barred his teeth. The madman. "No problems there. Now where's Nat and Steve?"

"Last I heard from Steve was trying to stop a train from crashing," said Barton. "Nat… Ultron got her." He shifted his eyes from side to side.

"What?" Frank raised a disbelieving eyebrow. He knew the Black Widow was the weakest of the Avengers (to be fair, she had some fierce competition) but she could still hold her own if need be. It didn't make sense.

"Believe it or not. Ultron nabbed her while she was getting me this cradle."

"Is she dead?" Banner had a hint of worry in his voice. It sounded like genuine concern.

"Nope, she's not dead yet. If she was, Ultron would play it back to us like he did with Strucker."

"So there's no way to get in touch? To know where she is without some toy?" asked Stark.

"Nat's been in worse. She'll find a way to get in touch." And with that Barton walked off to set up some machine to receive radio waves from Natasha or whatever. Meanwhile, Bruce and Tony set off to be "mad scientists", as Stark put it himself.

As for Frank, he kind of idled around in his room, with not much else to say or do. So he decided to give himself a mental exercise.

He found an old video camera and pressed play. The first video saved on it was his daughter taking her first steps. "There you go," said Frank in the video, behind the camera. "See, that wasn't so bad?"

Fast forward to Junior's fifth birthday. He'd been fascinated with dinosaurs at the time, so they'd spent the day at the American Museum of Natural History with some of his friends from kindergarten. "Look there. That's a T-Rex, son."

"Oh, silly." His wife came on the screen. Physically, she and Maria Hill were opposites, His wife's hair was blonde and she'd spent one too many days in the tanning salon. But she had been, while alive, a vibrant human being on the inside and out. "That's an allosaurus. See, he's shaking his head."

The various video segments went on and on. The unifying connection between all the clips was that it presented the family he once had in a very positive. This was them before their innocence – and lives – were ripped out from under them.

Frank shed a few tears while going over the videos. He hadn't pulled them out since he'd recorded them, and he'd never watched them during his time as the Punisher. Now that he was, he'd regretted not seeing this earlier. He should have done this at Barton's place. Would have saved him a lot of headache.

He'd have watched the videos again, but a commotion was taking place down in the lab where the synthetic body was. Frank headed down to see what it was, and he wished it was otherwise.

Steve Rogers, standing with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff like they were old friends. No sign of hostility at all.

Frank didn't know whether the girl had Steve's mind wrapped around her finger, or that she'd pretended to switch sides, or whatever. She'd entered their base of operations and he wasn't having any of it. But he didn't attack them head on. He'd tried that already and failed.

Instead, he headed for the armory and picked up a Taser shotgun. It fired individual Taser rounds at a speed of 184 mph. He didn't know how fast Pietro Maximoff could run, but Frank figured that if he had the element of surprise, the kid's speed wouldn't matter.

Frank returned to the lab, where he found an argument with Steve and the Maximoffs on one side, Tony and Bruce on the other. They were arguing whether putting Jarvis in the synthetic body was a good idea or not.

Frank didn't give a shit.

Without warning, he positioned himself so that he was behind the Maximoffs, and fired a round at each of them.


	12. Chapter 12

Pietro Maximoff fell first, belching from the Taser shotgun round that had been fired straight in his chest. He tried to "supermove" to get rid of the electrical round, but unknown to him, the Taser round only increased voltage with any attempts to pull it out.

Wanda attempted to summon up red energy in retaliation, but Frank shot her quickly as well, sending her falling to the floor in an electrical seizure.

Steve Rogers, for his part, was taken completely aback. "Frank, what the hell?!"

"I was going to ask you the same thing, Boy Scout," growled Frank, "but I'd rather take decisive action than let you continue to vouch for two of our enemies."

Tony and Bruce were both watching the whole thing with a spectator's eye. Yes, they both had a dog in the fight, but right now their main priority was getting JARVIS inserted into the Vision body. Frank, for better or worse, was giving them time to do so.

Steve came to his senses – and to his defense of the Maximoffs. "Frank, I recruited the two of them in Korea. They turned on Ultron, they're with us now-"

Frank's reaction was the laugh as hard as he could. Pietro tried to get up, but Frank pressed a button on the shotgun, and the ensuing voltage kept him and his sister on the floor.

"You still don't get it," said Frank with an almost unhealthy enthusiasm. "Never have, never will. I don't know if it's courage you're lacking, or guts, or whatever. But you just don't have what it takes to deliver permanent solutions."

"By killing them?" Stark had decided to give his two cents to the debate. He had no lost love for the Maximoffs, but would rather have them on his side than dead. You know, practicality.

"Yes," said Frank with finality, and with judgment having already been passed. "This is not vengeance; revenge alone is not a valid motive, because it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment."

The tension in the room is turning against him, but he doesn't care. He's doing what he thinks is right. It's how he always worked: when something hits you, hit back, and hit back harder.

"Frank," Steve says in a calmer voice, "think for a minute. It  _is_ your emotions at play here. I know she made you see things, but I can promise you that's not happening again. They're not bad guys anymore." Steve sticks out his fists, ready to strike if need be.

"Do you have a crush on this girl or something?" asks Frank with disgust. "She has been  _fucking_ with us the whole time, and she's just gonna continue to do it!" He pulled up Wanda and set her on her knees, and then leaned over to face her. He was just half an inch away from her. "Do you want to tell them or will I have to?"

Wanda's eyes widen, with the realization of unforeseen consquences. Karma is a bitch. She struggles to get the words out, but Frank just stares at her dead on. If looks could kill…

But they don't, unfortunately for Frank Castle.

She still stutters in shock of her tragic decision to get inside his head. To get inside all of their heads.

Frank, tired of waiting for her to spit it out, picks up Pietro instead. "Fine, you don't wanna talk. We'll try something else instead. I won't hurt you."

He pulls out a gun and points straight in Pietro's back.

"Just the person you love most. I'm going to fuck with them just as bad as you tried to fuck with my loved ones. Then, you can stop stuttering and tell me you're sorry."

The anguish in his voice is undeniable.

"Frank," snaps Steve, "there are better ways to handle this. Maria wouldn't want this."

Cue the timer to a bomb reaching zero.

"Don't you bring her into this," snarls Frank. "Don't you fucking dare! I've had to deal with enough nightmares about her thanks to this bitch." He causally kicks aside Wanda, chivalry be damned.

That does it for Rogers. He flung his shield at Frank, disconnecting him from the Maximoffs and sending him flying towards a brick wall. He can't bring it down on his own, but he does get sent plummeting to the ground, reeling.

Steve picks up the self-named Punisher and punches him as hard as he can in the face. "You disgusting piece of shit," roars the super soldier, dropping all of his rules on bad language. "How dare you hurt someone trying to redeem herself!"

Frank is subjected to a round of blows from Captain America. To the surprise of Clint, Tony, and Bruce, Frank doesn't try to fight back at all. "They're the bad guys, Cap," Frank manages to spit out, calling Steve Rogers by his nickname. "They're the ones that tried to kill us…"

"SHUT UP!" Steve threw Frank off of the balcony, crashing glass and probably breaking a few bones in the process. While Bruce attempted to reroute the uplink of JARVIS in the Vision body, Pietro, who recovered faster thanks to his quick metabolism, spun past him, disconnecting everything Stark had spent hours placing. Stark's reaction was to fire at Pietro, who had to dodge the repulsor blast.

Meanwhile, Rogers was laying waste to the seemingly defenseless Castle. Blood was flowing more freely now. "If you're so much of the tough guy you claim to be, why don't you fight back!?"

Frank is seeping in and out of consciousness, finally being knocked out a moment later. However, he still manages to give his explanation to Cap for not lifting a finger against the beating:

"Not… against… you."

When Frank Castle woke up next, it wasn't on the lab floor of the Avengers tower. Instead, he was surrounded by gray cinderblock and was laying on a bed.

He was in the prison cell of the tower.  _I try to dispose of a legitimate threat to all of them and this is the reward I receive._ He was also handcuffed to the bed by his left arm. They must had drugged him with something, because he was feeling woozy and light headed.

Bruce Banner walked in a minute later. His face was one of  _I'm sorry, I want to say you're right, but no one else does._

"You finally made it to consciousness," said Banner. "After that beating, I'd expect five hours. You took less than three."

Frank then noticed his left arm was in a cast. His face suddenly received a jolt of pain. Frank looked in a nearby mirror to see that his right eye was a purple blob, his nose had bled profusely, and at least two teeth were knocked out of shape. With all of Steve's strength in his blind rage, it was a wonder he wasn't on life support.

"This is the thanks I get for trying to get rid of a pair of twins that wanted us dead," cursed Frank under his breath.

Banner heard what he said, however. "Not anymore. Or, at least Stark and Barton don't. Even they've been convinced of the loyalty of the Maximoffs. You and I, we're in the minority. I think you might have been on to something about the whole crush thing, by the way."

"Really?" asked Frank.

"Captain America has never shown an interest before. Not from what Natasha told me. She's like him, being a human experiment and stuff."

"God I want to kill her so bad." He was misplacing words and slurring in his speech, the drugs still had a hold on him.

"Unfortunately, not possible. Lot of stuff happened while you were napping."

"Like what?" asked Frank.

"Steve and the Maximoffs still picked a fight until Thor shows up to make Vision awaken via burst of lightning. Oddly, it's not JARVIS or Ultron in the body, but something completely unique. It picked up Thor's hammer, by the way."

"W-What?"

"Yep, you're still on a high dosage of morphine. That should go away within the hour. And yes, the Vision thing picked up the damn hammer. Figured it was the only way it could make us trust him or it."

With all the drugs still in his head, the last thing he could comprehend was a synthetic body being able to lift a hammer with the weight of a white dwarf star. "Now what?"

Banner stammered. "Well, we're headed off to Sokovia. That's where Nat is located, and we'll probably run into Ultron again, so that'll be another fight. But you're not coming."

Another confused "What?" came from Frank Castle.

"We put it to a vote. Steve wanted you fully expelled from the team after what you did to his supposed crush. Maximoffs too. They even convinced Thor to take their side. Stark and I were the only ones voting to keep you here. We made a compromise: you can stay on the team, but you're not coming with us to Sokovia."

Frank's blood boiled and he attempted to break loose of the handcuffs. Even with the morphine wearing off, he was unable to do anything but budge.

"That's not to say you can't help out, though," said Banner with a sly grin.

"What do you mean?"

"Someone's gotta rescue Romanoff. And if I recall correctly, Fury and Hill are going to get a helicarrier. You can think of something."

"I can't," disagreed Frank. "I already promised her I wouldn't fail again, and I did-"

"Don't beat yourself up over losing your mind with the twins. I'd do the same thing but I have this habit of turning green whenever that happens. I'm almost jealous of you."

"I want to kill them so bad," groaned Frank.

"So do I, but the enemy of the enemy is my friend. We'll all have to deal with it later. For now, we're headed out in our Quinjet, and you're going to meet up with whatever Fury's got assembled."

Frank didn't like his list of options, but he'd have to make do with them. Besides, he didn't want to have to get in Captain America's bleeding heart again. The super soldier screamed honor and duty, but deep down he was a man just like any other, with flaws like any other.

_Makes you wonder whether they picked the right guy for the serum._

Bruce dropped Frank off in Hell's Kitchen a few hours later. Castle walked a few blocks, then went inside the door of a place named  _Nelson and Murdock: Attorneys at Law_.

Inside, Frank found a reception office with a tall redheaded girl at the desk. "Good morning," she said in a pleasant manner. "Do you have an appointment for today?"

"Tell Matt that Frank's back in town."

Before the girl could tell him that walk-in appointments weren't allowed, Matt Murdock himself walked by. He was wearing a tan suit and his regular red sunglasses. "It's alright Karen, I'll take it from here.

It had been two weeks since the men known as Daredevil and the Punisher had met up here in this very office. Usually it was Frank who initiated said meetups, and here they were.

Matt was devoted to keeping his city safe, and wasn't too concerned with expanding himself elsewhere. That suit Frank just fine. As Frank wasn't in one place for too long, it was nice to know that there were those who would defend his city when he couldn't.

They talked more about whether killing was a valid response to the shit they faced on a daily basis, Matt as a lawyer, Frank as an Avenger, and both of them as vigilantes. Matt had always insisted that going out and beating up the bad guys was enough to cross the line, and didn't want to cross it any further. Frank's philosophy, on the other hand, was that falling down to your opponent's level was fine as long as the other person wasn't breathing.

Something both of them knew a thing or two about.

And for all of their differences and opposing mindsets, there was a strong sense of respect going around. Frank didn't like everything about Matt, but he understood and respected it. Likewise the other way going around.

Eventually their conversation got to the point where Frank was telling him about how he'd tried to kill the Captain's new assets, and how Captain America nearly beat him to death.

"Ouch," replied Matt. "You look terrible. Though I suppose you kind of deserved it."

"No I didn't," snapped back Frank. "He only freaked out because he had a crush on that girl-"

"It's irrelevant. What matters is that you crossed the line. And it was a very obvious one too."

Frank just scowled.

"Now, where were you saying you were headed?"

_Helicarrier 64, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean_

"Get your ass in check. We're moving out in less than ten minutes." Maria Hill was yelling orders like a first language. This was her in her natural element; chain of command always did suit her best.

After the pilot she was yelling to scrambled, Phil Coulson walked by. "So how do you like it?"

"Dusty," Maria replied, "but it'll do. The drones alone aren't very durable, but if the reports are to be believed and Ultron has hands of Klaue's vibranium deposits, it wouldn't hurt to have a full component of Insight technology at our disposal, not to mention all the toys you and May gave is."

The "toys" Hill was referring to were dozens of various aircraft from around the world: Black Hawk and Pave Low helicopters, F-15 purchased from Eastern Europe, and some experimental civilian transports dubbed "Goliaths". Each Goliath was capable of carrying up to a hundred civilians, not to mention the crews. They would be extremely helpful in evacuating the people of Sokovia from the battle and to someplace safer in the country.

Nothing like IDPs (internally displaced persons) to keep everyone busy. Coulson handed her a list of everything he'd assembled and went off to talk to Fury.

Her next focus of attention came over the comms. "Starboard flank clear, ma'am," came Ghost's British voice from his helicopter that was doing recon a good twenty five miles to the east.

"Alright. Do another flyby and-"

Her phone rang. Maria told Ghost to sit tight while she looked to see who it was. It was Frank.

 _Let's hope he's the bearer of good news, and not bad._ "Frank?"

"Yeah, it's me." The scruffy voice of Frank Castle came on. "There's been a complication…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnddd I leave it at that. Tune in sometime later for "Maria Hill schools Frank Castle 101." Hope you enjoyed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to get the rest of this on Ao3. I hope you're still reading.

Maria Hill bit her lip for what was probably the hundredth time.

Frank Castle had gone over the deep end again. Okay, maybe he was warranted some sympathy this time. Actually, no. They'd turned on Ultron and that was how he repaid the Maximoff twins.

Some people were just addicted to revenge. And while it was a powerful tool, it very easily cut both ways.

Maria sighed and replied to Frank. "Look, we'll talk about it later. Just give me your coordinates and I'll send someone to pick you up."

"I'm just idling around the Statue of Liberty, if you're wondering." Frank's voice had a touch of relaxation, as if what he'd done to former enemies turned allies didn't faze him one bit.

Another sigh, another thing placed in her mind to deal with later. "Alright, later." Then she shifted back into commander mode. "Ghost, are you and your team still in the air?"

"Yes, why?"

"Time to play mailman." Maria explained the situation and gave Frank's location to Ghost, who was still operating the Pave Low. As he set off, Fury came by.

"Clint called. Quite the temper Castle has."

"Yes, sir, but I think it's just a part of his nature. We'll accustom to it the best we can and if I can do anything about it, all the better."

Fury blinked. "That reminds of something I said once, back when I was running ops in Latveria. The council was being their usual selves, so I gave them some advice if they wanted to micromanage so goddamn hard."

"And what advice was that?"

"Put the Hulk on one end of Latveria, the Punisher on the other, and see who gets to the middle first."

She shook her head. "Not exactly what you're looking for if you were trying to topple the government in a sneaky manner, sir."

"Of course, and the council let me send in Romanoff instead. But he'd have got the job done all the same, albeit with different unconventional methods. It's all in the art of knowing what person does well with what situations."

_Base of Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, New York_

Technically, the Statue of Liberty was still closed off to civilians. But Frank Castle was not the ordinary civilian. He lit a smoke and took in the view of the bay.

He'd made emergency shelter for a couple of days after leaving Matt Murdock's law offices. Knowing full well that the NYPD would be on his ass, Frank went to a place where others were off limit and he could get some privacy.

This was where his grandparents had come to, with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. They'd worked hard for everything they got, and so did he, keeping the family tradition alive.

Something a trio of lab rats named Pietro, Wanda, and Captain America obvious never did. All three were only special because of what science experiments did. So, he could sort of see why Steve had a soft spot for the girl: she was like him. That was one of the truths he'd learned about relationships: similarities, not opposites, attract.

That was why Steve Rogers took a liking to Wanda Maximoff. Likewise with himself and Maria Hill. And though he could understand where Rogers' sentimentality came from, it didn't mean he liked or appreciated it. He'd already had a taste of sentimentality when Wanda fucked with his mind, and he'd hated it.

Oh well. That was what happened when you bet on professional sports. You bet on the Mets and Jets, and that was where you ended up.

Maybe he should have taken things more lightly.  _Ah hell, who cares. What's done is done. Now when's Maria's errand boys gonna get their asses here._

He lit another cigarette. He really needed to cut this habit, and quickly. It wasn't good for anyone's health. Once he puffed a cloud, a Pave Low helicopter appeared. At first Frank thought it was passing by, but then he realized it was stopping at a low lying area near the Statue. Three people got out: Melinda May, that British guy who'd been with Fury, and another, sandy blonde man, who Frank guessed was about the same age and build as Ghost.

"Frank Castle?" The unidentified man had a Southern accent. "Corporal Jake Dunn, Rangers. Maria said you needed a ride. In more ways than one." He said that last bit with a grin.

"Damn it, Dunn," barked Ghost, "you don't want to piss this guy off."

"I second that," said Melinda May, frowning. "I honestly don't see why you're worth the effort. All you do is kill anything that pushes your buttons."

"And you don't?" asked Frank with zero emotion. "I know you're called the Cavalry for a reason."

May sighed. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that Maria wants you back on the helicarrier. That doesn't mean I have to like it in any form or fashion, however."

"It's nice to be popular," groaned Frank as he got in the Pave Low and departed New York.

The helicopter ride was silent and uneasy. Frank kept to himself as May flew the Pave Low across the Atlantic Ocean while Ghost and Dunn played cards. "You wanna join?" asked Ghost in a friendly tone.

"Nah."

"Come on man, I'll bet you're better than fucking Dunn over here."

"Fuck you," came Dunn's reply.

So Frank decided why the hell not, and played. And he  _was_ a better card player than Corporal Dunn.

Once that was done, Frank decided to write in his journal. It had been a few days since he'd cracked it open.

_Here I am, headed to a helicarrier, to face the woman I love and atone for my so-called sins. Attempting to neutralize an actual threat is a crime, apparently, if your teammate catches the feels for a girl._

_On the other hand, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to get kicked out of the tower. Never liked too much time with people with too much power. Always preferred others like myself. And yet, in a world of superheroes and flying death machines, you just have to accept it._

_I just hope Maria's okay with all of it._

* * *

A few hours later, the Pave Low arrived at Helicarrier 64/Insight 4. Frank had never been on a helicarrier before, and it was one hell of a sight. At least ten thousand feet in the air, a helicarrier was a flying fortress, armed with all the planes and defenses of an aircraft carrier combined with the flight capabilities of a helicopter.  _When will the Navy and Marines start investing in this shit?_

Frank was "escorted" into the inside of helicarrier by a trio of heavily armed ex-SHIELD military police, not to mention May and Ghost. After several flights of stairs Frank thought would go on forever, he finally reached the command room. It gave a picturesque view of the sky and sea to the east. Nick Fury was there, along with Maria Hill and Phil Coulson.

"You made it," said Maria first, with a sharp tongue. "Couldn't keep yourself off the twins, could you?"

"You'd do the same in my situation," Frank snapped back. "Any of them would."

"But they didn't." This came from Fury. "Well, not immediately."

"Whatever," said Coulson, wanting to move along. "That's not why we decided to bring him here. May, if you would?"

"Sure thing." Melinda brought up a digital reality screen that displayed the Sokovian city of Novi Grad and the surrounding area, including a large forest and the castle formerly used by Baron Von Strucker as his base of operations.

"Sokovia? Again?" Frank was left wondering what made the small Eastern European nation such a hotspot. It was barely the size of Vermont.

"Ultron's been detected there," replied Maria, handing Frank a number of images surveillance drones above Sokovia had acquired for her. "He's been moving large amounts of some material, probably the vibranium from South Africa, to the castle."

"Didn't NATO set up a force to guard the damn place?"

"They did, Corporal Dunn, but they've gone missing in the last 48 hours. We have to assume Ultron's already killed them. At this time we believe he's attempting to recalibrate the Chitauri troop carrier that Strucker was experimenting on and refitting his primary body with vibranium."

"Well, that's lovely," remarked Frank.

"There's more," said Fury. "I had one of my experts brought in, and he thinks Ultron's going to do something none of you are going to believe."

"I've heard a lot of strange things in my career," said Coulson. "It can't be any stranger."

"Ultron's going to produce a meteor with the vibranium."

An awkward silence swept the room. Maria, for her part, didn't take what her boss just said very seriously. She looked at Frank, who merely shrugged his shoulders. Coulson and the rest shook their heads.

"Told you so," Fury counteracted. "My guy says the vibranium's got some sort of property that makes it really good for transmitting electrical currents this way and that way. The Chitauri troop transporter runs on said currents. And it's not a coincidence that there have been at least three small earthquakes in the region since yesterday."

"Ultron's lining the ground with vibranium," mumbled Frank with some worry.

"Good thinking, Mr. Punisher. And with this, he can lift an entire chunk of the earth out of the sky and drop it like a rock. May, pull up the worst case scenario."

The digital reality screen now projected a Mercator projection of the Earth. It zoomed in on Eastern Europe, then settled on Sokovia, nested in between Serbia, Romania and Latveria. A clock graphic in one corner read  _One hour from impulsion_. Novi Grad, along with the surrounding area, was replaced with a red dot.

"That represents the meteor impact site and affected radius," Maria told Frank.

The red dot began expanding, doubling in size quickly, doing so over and over again. The whole Balkan region was red when the clock was at  _Three hours from impulsion_. They watched as the impact area spread beyond Europe, south into Africa, east into the vast expanse of Russia, and west across the Atlantic sea and America beyond…

Half a minute later, half the world had gone red, and time clock read  _Twenty hours from impulsion._

Ghost barged in, finished with another patrol. "Starboard flank is good. Did I miss anything?"

"The doomsday club," said Maria grimly.

"Doomsday it is," said Frank. "No plans, no nothing."

Maria put a hand on his shoulder. "Silly, of course we have a plan. And even if we don't, SHIELD's had less than that before and still came out on the other side."

* * *

It  _was_ a plan, Frank had to admit. Maybe not the most advanced of plans, but he'd take it.

Frank, along with Ghost and Dunn, would take the Pave Low and fly off as recon around Strucker's castle. Being Ultron's new base of operations, it would be the first place to look around, and see if Romanoff was being held there or nearby. If they ran into anything, well, there was a whole crate of special forces toys in the hangar bay.

Fury decided to use the Goliaths. There was a strong probability that Novi Grad would be going for a ride, and any potential battle between Ultron and the Avengers was going to have collateral damage anyways. Six Goliaths total would be launched from the helicarrier once it arrived in Sokovia and begin to transport citizens in immediate danger out of the fighting zone and to greener pastures.

If the Avengers were already there and delaying Ultron's doomsday meteor, the SHIELD forces would do what they could to evac the civilians. If, however, Ultron launched his meteor a little bit early, Fury would have no choice to carpet bomb the city. It was a terrible option, but if it came to that, they didn't have any other options.

And if that happened, there'd be little hope of stopping Ultron.

But Frank wasn't counting on that just yet.

Maria took Frank, Ghost, Dunn, and several others down to an armory just as stocked as Stark's. She'd been stockpiling weapons ever since HYDRA had shown its ugly face, and had Coulson collect some toys while he was going after Inhumans. Each man was going to get anything he wanted. Dunn settled with a SCAR with thermal scope, while Ghost picked up a Tar-21, a bullpup rifle designed to be lightweight and maneuverable.

In the streets of Novi Grad, that would come in handy.

"Picked you out some things," Maria said to Frank as she tossed him a Milkor grenade launcher. "Found at one of the Winter Soldier's attacks. Grenades should be able to destroy the drones easily."

"But not the vibranium one," Frank commented.

"I guess leave that to the Avengers. I'm also giving all of you P90 submachine guns. With fifty round magazines and armor piercing rounds, you should be able to cut through anything short of vibranium."

Frank appreciated that. While the others left to get the helicopter ready, he stayed behind and faced Maria. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

"For what?"

"For… you know. Getting uppity on the Maximoffs."

She turned to face the window of the armory, giving a view of the sea below. "You've got an addiction, you know. Revenge."

Frank was silent. He couldn't really afford to fight with her now, and he didn't really want to anyways.

"You're all about revenge, Castle, and I don't blame you. But it's going to get you killed one day."

She suddenly kissed him. Frank was taken aback. His five days' worth of stubble raked against her impeccably pristine skin.

"And I hope that day is far, far away."

The both relaxed for a moment. "So do I. And does this mean I'm getting an anger management therapist in my future?"

"Try to kill the Maximoffs in the heat of battle, and I won't need to."

"So you're mad at me still."

Maria crossed her arms. "Not enough to let it distract me from more pressing matters. Unlike you."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "Yep, you've got your head on, at least."

"And I'm here to keep yours from falling off every two seconds."

"Good to know."

"Frank." Maria said with a more serious tone. "Get your shit together. When we're in action, I don't have the time to tie your shoelaces every time you trip."

* * *

The Pave Low left an hour after, when the helicarrier was somewhere over Switzerland. Ghost Dunn, Frank (after Maria lectured him another thirty minutes about how alienating potential allies was a bad idea), and six other operators Fury had pulled together were in it.

Frank was counting on the Avengers to be preoccupied with trying to evacuate Novi Grad as it stood. Banner had made that clear to him. He had no clue if the Avengers knew about Ultron's plans with the virbranium, or even if Ultron was going to use a meteor in the first place, but you did what you had to do.

"I can tell you got the feels for Commander Hill," said Dunn in the middle of a conversation.

"Two steps further than that, son. Do you want a medal?"

"Actually," said Dunn with a grin, "you should be the one with a medal. That woman scares me."

"I'd rather have a medal for being a SEAL, thank you very much."

"I actually  _do_  have some medals," said Dunn. "Silver Star and Purple Heart, all for saving some limeys in Afghanistan a while back. Been a few years since I was a Ranger."

"You retired?" asked Frank.

"Yeah. Got a wife and a daughter in Atlanta, figured I'd stick around to let them know I exist." He gazed darkly out the window. "Sometimes I wonder what the hell made me take Fury's offer."

"Saving the world, I presume," suggested Frank. "It has an attractive quality to it."

"Sure does." Strucker's castle was coming into view. "Let's go film  _Terminator_ , folks."

* * *

"You sure this is a good idea letting him along for the party, Hill?" Fury still had his doubts over Frank Castle's stability. "Once he sees them, he's going to go into Punisher mode all over again."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Maria answered. "Frank's one of the best I've seen. He'll be useful wherever he goes. He got out of the small-time vigilante business, he can get past this. It's a temporary problem that'll fix itself soon enough."

Fury let out an exaggerated huff. He knew Maria could be wrong, but that was extremely rare, and when he'd been proven wrong by her, he usually regretted it for days. "All right. I just hope you're correct on this one. No more vouching for him?"

"Sorry, kind of hard not to when you're dating him. But I have an idea for him once this mess is all over."

"And what kind of idea is that?"

"The kind that keeps him away from problems and puts him in his element."


End file.
